Campus Liaisons
by Isabel0329
Summary: Bella Swan starts her first semester as an English professor with just the right thing – a one night stand. But what happens when that one night stand shows up in the most unexpected place? All-human, OOC. Rated M for language and sex.
1. Chapter 1: Hangovers and First Days

**A/N: Yes, I've started another story! A full explanation and longer author's note is at the end of this chapter. **

Summary: Bella Swan starts her first semester as an English professor with just the right thing – a one night stand. But what happens when that one night stand shows up in the most unexpected place? All-human.

Note: Stephenie Meyer owns everything. I just borrow the characters. If I owned them, I'd never let Edward come out and play. Edward Cullen does, however, own me.

**Campus Liaisons**

**Chapter 1: Hangovers and First Days**

The first thing I was conscious of was the extremely loud pounding in my head. Every sound was magnified. Someone had turned up the volume to maximum, hadn't they?

Holy hell. What happened to me?

I was lying flat on my stomach on my bed, my cheek pressed into the mattress. A chill ran across my skin and I shivered.

Wait … I'm not usually this cold when I wake up.

What's going on?

I slowly rolled over and the bright rays of the sunrise hit my eyes, sending my face quickly back into the mattress.

_Too bright_.

I groaned loudly and went to turn the other way to avoid the sun. My eyes opened reluctantly, still hurting from the blinding sun.

Through my haze of sleep, I could see my yellow sheets had been pulled back on my queen size bed on the other side of the bed.

Um, what?

I tried to rub the last remnants of sleep out of my eyes but only succeeded in making my throbbing head hurt more.

Painkillers. I needed painkillers. And lots of them.

My sore body pulled itself up in bed and another cold breeze ran across my skin.

And then I looked down.

I wasn't wearing a bra. Or a tank top. Or shirt. Or anything else for that matter.

I was stark naked on top.

Immediately the bottom of my stomach fell out and nausea threatened to overwhelm me.

What had I done last night?

My sheets were tangled around my legs and waist. Even though a part of me wanted to check under the sheets for what I expected would be the rest of my naked body, a much larger part of me didn't want to.

Because if I was completely naked there was only one thing I could have done last night.

I sat there in my bed, sheets curled around me and my heart heavy with anticipation. My thoughts swam with what I could recall of last night's events, but very little was coming back to me.

All I remember was Alice and Rosalie saying "Fuck boys! Let's go get drunk!"

That was never good.

The very last thing I remember was reluctantly agreeing to shots of tequila with Rosalie. The bartender pushed two shot glasses filled with the golden liquid towards us and handed us two limes. We looked at each other and hooked our arms so they were interwoven. One last deep breath and bottoms up.

And nothing else after that.

Shit.

This wasn't good.

By now I was starting to hyperventilate from the broken memories. A flash of a smile here, a sweet smell wafting through my nostrils there.

I groaned loudly again, breaking the silence of my room.

Now or never, I thought.

My fingers curled around the edge of the sheet and I closed my eyes, afraid of what I would find.

Slowly I pulled the sheet up and steeled myself for the sight.

Another deep breath and I was ready. Well, I wasn't _actually_ ready, but probably as ready as I would ever be.

I timidly opened my eyes and all of the air in my lungs whooshed out in a single exhale.

Yep, I was definitely completely naked. In my full glory. Bare as the day I was born.

Shit shit shit.

My head turned towards my nightstand and sure enough there was a little torn foil wrapper, teasing me of my night's activities.

My one night stand.

Well, I guess I should be so lucky that he'd used a condom. And lucky that I was religious about taking my birth control. Thank heavens for small miracles.

I was 24. I don't do this kind of things. Well, I usually don't do this kind of things. I was smart. A college graduate with honors. A teacher.

Fuck! Class!

The sudden realization about what today was hit me like a ton of bricks and I jumped out of bed, the hangover suddenly the least of my concerns. I stumbled to my bathroom and threw myself into the shower, barely letting the water warm up enough so it wasn't icy cold. I would just have to deal with my broken memories and random sex later. There were much more pressing matters at hand.

Today was the most important day of my life! Today was the very first day of my new semester, my very first semester as a professor.

I'd graduated from college early and quickly pursued a master's in English literature at the same school. After all, I didn't feel like having to go through the trials of having to find a new school, new professors, a new thesis advisor, and worst of all … moving. I liked Washington, as green as it was. It was so different from Phoenix and after college I had wanted to stay in Washington.

So I stayed. And finished my masters in no time. Early even.

The school was so impressed with my dedication that they offered me a spot teaching one English lit class. I would be the youngest instructor in the department, and I needed to prove myself if I wanted to be hired as a full professor in a few years. I'd never thought about teaching during my own schooling, but when the offer had presented itself, I couldn't turn it down.

It was a comfortable job, though it would by no means make me rich. But it was comfortable. And safe. Two things I liked very much about the job. I didn't have to make changes in my life. I didn't have to leave my friends, my community, or my house.

I'd bought the small bungalow on the outskirts of campus last year, the final year I'd been in graduate school. It wasn't fancy, but it was perfect for me. There was just enough that it needed to make it a project, but not so much that the needed repairs overwhelmed me. My older brother Emmett had helped me with much of them, thanks to the fact he lived pretty close. His only complaint about the house was that it was too close to some campus fraternities for his taste, but I scoffed at his protests.

I quickly finished my shower and threw on the most professional outfit I had in my closet. A white button down shirt and slate grey trousers with a wide cuff at the bottom. I wrapped my hair up into a tight bun, already running too late to spend time drying it.

I silently thanked the gods that I'd already prepared my class materials, laying them out on my desk in my office.

The coffee maker's timer worked perfectly and was done just as I came out of my bedroom. The rich smell of the caffeine-filled liquid rid me of any remaining bits of drowsiness. I poured some into a travel mug and grabbed for my briefcase and purse.

The door swung shut behind me on my way out and I raced down the streets in my flats to get to the English building on time. Undergrads were everywhere, swarming the entrances and blocking off the crosswalks.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" I shouted wildly and ran out in front of a few cars. The drivers honked and had to swerve to avoid me, but I couldn't be bothered by this. If I didn't get there on time I would be late to my own class. And that certainly wasn't acceptable.

The red brick and ivy covered walls of the English building found me in no time and I pushed through the doors, ducking around a few confused looking girls. Probably freshman trying to find their classrooms.

I unlocked the door to my office and threw my briefcase in the corner chair next to my desk. The stack of syllabuses sat right where I left them yesterday and once again I thanked my lucky stars for my foresight.

I checked my watch and saw I had only 15 minutes before my class was due to start.

Collapsing in my desk chair, I let my nerves overtake me.

My stomach was doing flipflops, reeking havoc on my breathing.

I can do this. No big deal. You're smart, Bella. You graduated with honors and the dean himself recommended you for this job. You can do this.

With my head between my knees, I tried to control my frantic breathing. I took one last look at my watch.

Five minutes.

Well, no time like the present.

I swept the stack of papers into my arms and grabbed a pen.

After locking my office door, I found my way to my assigned classroom. From behind the door, I could hear loud chattering and boisterous laughter.

Oh, god. Why did I agree to this again?

You can do this, Bella.

The two sides of my brain were fighting each other for control. The nervous, unsure side wanted to win so badly, but I couldn't let it. I couldn't show weakness on my first day. No, I needed to be strong and set a firm example for this semester. I didn't want these students to walk all over me.

I took one last deep breath and opened the door.

Immediately a hush fell over the students and all eyes focused on me.

Please don't let there be toilet paper on my shoe. I hope I tucked my shirt in the right way. Good god, did I remember to put both earrings in?

My mind was running a mile a minute, but I pressed to maintain a calm, cool exterior.

I walked over to the little table with the small podium in the middle of the classroom and set the stack of syllabuses down. My hands instinctually gripped the sides of the podium and I finally tried to focus on all the faces in front of me.

Dozens of pairs of eyes stared back at me. Not a single sound could be heard except the pounding of my heart. I prayed nobody could hear it except me.

Finally, I was ready.

"Good morning class and welcome to English Literature 201. I'm Professor Swan. I look forward to getting to know you all this semester. Let's go over the syllabus," I said with fake confidence.

I could tell already. This was going to be a _long _semester.

* * *

**A/N: Please let me know what you think so far. I'm sure you have questions, so leave them and I'll try to address them in future chapters. **

**Now I know I said school would take precedent over writing, but I couldn't stay away too long. But school is still more important, so don't except updates to come as fast as they did for Across the Airwaves. They'll probably be once a week, most likely on Fridays. And chapters will also probably be shorter, allowing me to get them out sooner.  
**

**Also, thanks to everybody who voted for me at The Twilight Awards. I am so grateful for the support and even though Across the Airwaves didn't win, the stories that did win were spectacular. **


	2. Chapter 2: Not All Alike

**A/N: Two chapters in one day? Definitely not the norm, but I thought I'd treat tonight.**

Note: Stephenie Meyer owns everything. I just borrow the characters. If I owned them, I'd never let Edward come out and play. Edward Cullen does, however, own me.

**Campus Liaisons**

**Chapter 2: Not All Alike**

Only 15 minutes had elapsed in my first class and already I was mortified beyond belief. I'd butchered the first student's name to the point of hilarity. So I quickly changed my method and sent around a blank sheet of paper, asking everybody to print their name clearly so I could check off attendance later.

"I'm not going to record attendance for each class. It's my opinion that you're all adults and I know that when I was an undergrad I didn't like being required to be somewhere if I didn't want to be there," I stated.

A murmur of appreciation rolled through the small classroom. I smiled at their quick acceptance.

"But …" I started again. "If you suddenly show up to the midterm and I haven't seen you since today, I reserve the right to not let you sit for it. And the same goes with the final too." I glared at a few of the girls in the front row who were examining their acrylic nails.

One overly processed blonde gave me a condescending sneer and returned to her nails. I could already tell she was going to get on my nerves.

I shrunk back a little from her death glare, despite wanting to hold my ground. There was something about her that was rough around the edges and slightly scary at the same time. Like she'd have no problem with pulling on my hair if it came down to a thrown down between us.

I took a deep breath and tried to regain what little composure I still had. My head had started pounding a little harder when the annoying girl glared at me.

"Okay, so this semester I'm going to be trying something a bit different than some of the other literature professors," I said after a moment.

"I want everybody to keep a journal about what we read. It can be anything from what you think of the books to what we're discussing in class or if you have a personal connection at all. I just want it directed to our readings. The only other requirement is that it be in a single subject notebook so I can look over it," I continued. "Any questions about that?"

The blonde girl shot her arm up.

"Yes?"

"How long does the stuff we have to write in it be? Cause I don't have a lot of time to spare. I'm very busy," she whined. The sound of her voice made me wince. It was high pitched and reminded me of when my old Economics professor would scrape his chalk across the board to wake up students who had fallen asleep.

I huffed indignantly.

"I don't know … a page maybe? It's not that hard really to come up with that little," I replied with as even a voice as I could manage from my throbbing head.

"You'd be surprised," she muttered so low I don't think she intended me to hear. I chose to ignore her and continue on.

I began to walk the front of the classroom. It was small, holding only 30 desks maybe. I was lucky in that I didn't have to teach in a big lecture. Some professors had hundreds of students; I had just 21.

"So now that you know about the journal, here comes the kicker. I'm not going to be collecting your journals in every class meeting and grading them. I want to meet with each of you individually. At least once in every two or three week period. I'm going post a sign up sheet on my office door and I want everybody to sign up for a time they can come in. During that meeting we'll go over your journal and discuss any problems or questions you might have. Any questions about these conferences?" I asked.

As soon as I finished speaking, the blonde's hand shot up again. Seriously? Could she really have an issue with this too?

"Yes?" I quipped at her.

"I don't know if I have enough time for the conferences. You see, I'm a cheerleader and I'm vice president of my sorority," she said and snapped her gum when she was done.

The bright overhead lights had begun to pierce into my eyes and my headache was starting to turn into a migraine. My patience with this blonde girl was already dangerously thin and something in me snapped.

"Fine!" I yelled and threw my hands in the air. "Because you're so _special_, or at least you think you are, I'm going to _allow_ you to come in only once a month. Do you think you can spare fifteen minutes in your precious schedule to meet with a teacher once every four weeks or is that too much to ask?"

A soft laugh came from the back of the room and I tried to find its source. Nobody was looking at me besides the blonde mocking me from the front row. All the heads were down, but I had a sneaking suspicion it came from a guy in the back corner.

My head was pounding. I was positively fuming.

I could feel a vein on the side of my forehead pulsing and I'm sure I looked like a raving lunatic in front of my class. My hands were clenched in fists and held tightly at my side. Everything in me was tense and I could practically feel the adrenaline coursing through me.

The blonde girl just sat there looking smug. To me it appeared she was pleased she could get such a rise out of me. Like she'd intended to make me angry.

This realization let all of my built-up steam out of my sails. She's planned this. She's carefully orchestrated the best way to embarrass me on my first day. To make me, the professor, look incompetent and unbalanced.

"Sorry, I've had a long day already. Is once a month okay?" I asked between still clenched teeth, fighting for the last shred of composure I could muster.

I wanted to cry, hide, or run away. Anything to get away from this girl who'd so easily broken down the wall I insisted I should have with my students. I needed to be stoic, be composed, but here I'd gone and blown it already.

Damn her.

"Once a month is fine," she politely responded.

I glanced up at the clock and found that thirty of the fifty minutes of my class time had elapsed. Close enough, I thought. I don't know how much more of this I can handle today.

I took a deep breath and went over to my podium. Shifting the papers around, I found the class reading schedule and the assignment for the next class meeting.

"So since today is the first day, I've decided not to keep you the entire time. Look at the schedule and read the assignment for the next class. I'll post the conference signup sheet on my door today and you can sign up at your leisure. Everybody must be signed up by next week though. My office number is listed in the syllabus. Class dismissed," I said quickly.

Before any of the students could even pack any of their things away, I grabbed whatever papers I'd brought in with me and escaped the small classroom that was quickly becoming much smaller.

I ran down the hall and fumbled with the keys to my office, dropping them twice before I managed to get the door open. Once inside, I collapsed for the second time that day in my chair and buried my head under my arms.

That could not have gone any worse if I'd tried. God, I'm a moron for accepting this job. There's no way I should have ever believed I could actually do this. I was too young, too inexperienced. Hell, I've never taught anything before.

Tears flooded my eyes and I couldn't hold them back. Today was too much already. First I'd woken up to find myself naked and alone in a bed that I'd obviously shared with someone else and now this? Seriously, what horrible sin had I committed in a past life to deserve such terrible things? I couldn't even remember the damn sex, for god's sakes!

And the blonde girl? Apparently she was sent straight from hell to torment me on my first day of teaching. And sent to show me that I would never be good enough to do this job.

"Fucking crap," I muttered between sobs. I hardly ever swore aloud, only saving it for when I really felt bad. And this definitely constituted a "really bad" moment.

A soft knock sounded at my door and I quickly sat up, trying to compose myself. I wiped my fingers across my face to get rid of any traitor tears and smoothed the hair that had come loose back.

I'm sure I still looked like utter trash, but it was the best I was going to do.

I turned to my door to find it open slightly. A brown haired girl was looking in the crack with wide eyes, concern written on her face.

"Professor Swan?" she said, sounding fearful of my response.

"Come in," I hiccupped and waved to her.

She tentatively opened the door and stepped into my small office. She stood awkwardly by the door and played with the straps on her backpack.

"What can I do for you?" I asked, wiping another tear from my face.

"I just wanted to apologize for that back there. Tanya's … well … I don't like calling people names, but Tanya's always been a bitch. She makes it a priority to see how many of her professors she can get to cry on the first day," the girl spoke softly.

I nodded, trying to process what the girl said.

"But I don't understand. Why are you apologizing for her?" I finally asked, my brows pulled together in my confusion.

"She's my sister," she admitted.

"But … you two don't look anything alike."

"Well, she's not my actual sister. She's my sorority sister. And I don't like when she pulls out that excuse why she's so busy. It gives us a bad name when she's a bitch like that," she said.

"Oh," I replied. "Well, I'm going to be honest with you, I never would have pictured you as a …" I trailed off at the end.

"Sorostitute?" the girl laughed, using the campus nickname for certain sorority girls. "Yeah, I'm not. Most of us aren't like that. I didn't even want to join it really. My mom said it would be good for me to open up to people. I've never really made friends all that easy." She pushed something on the floor around with her toe and avoided my eyes.

"What's your name?" I asked.

The girl brought her head up and looked me straight in the eye.

"Angela Webber," she answered.

"Well, Angela. I'm glad that you came to talk to me. You've made me feel a lot better knowing that I have at least one good person in my class," I smiled at her.

There was a part of me that identified so much with Angela. I'd been shy in high school, too scared to "blossom" as my mom had called it. I had a few close friends, but mostly I was invisible. I kept to myself and buried my nose in a book most of the time. I probably knew more about Shakespeare, Austen and Bronte than I did about my classmates.

Angela mirrored my smile and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"So I have to get to my next class, so I'll see you in class Professor Swan," she said.

"Bella, call me Bella. I'm not much older than you, probably," I replied. My eyes narrowed in mock seriousness. "But in the classroom it's Professor Swan." I smiled again to reinforce that I was trying to keep it light.

"Sure, Bella. See you on Thursday," Angela answered and turned to leave.

I turned back to the stack of papers on my desk.

"Oh and Bella?" Angela quietly said. I turned back to her to see her face holding a sly smirk.

"Yeah?"

"I'm really glad you put Tanya in her place. And that you didn't cry," she laughed. "I think you just made my year with that."

"Glad I could be of assistance," I chuckled with her.

"Have a nice day, Bella." Angela moved to leave again.

"You too, Angela," I said as she shut the door again.

So maybe this semester wouldn't be as long as I thought it would if my students were anything like Angela Webber. I hoped that Tanya was the oddity, not the norm.

For another few hours I planned out what the next few weeks would look like, with more details than I'd put on the syllabus. I taped the conference signup sheet on my door and did more work.

Along with my teaching duties, I was helping some of the other professors on their research, so I read through some journal articles that one of them had asked me to scan for them. It wasn't that I was trying to suck up, I just wanted to do a good job. I wanted people to like me. I wanted to be thought of as a serious English professor, especially considering I was so young compared to most of them. There were even some I could be their granddaughter, they were so old.

It was near 4 o'clock when I finally realized my office hours were long over. I packed up some stuff in my briefcase and checked my phone for messages.

I had seven. All from the same person too.

Alice.

Damn. I forgot to call her this morning in my rush to get to class.

And I'm sure she's calling about the one thing I really don't have any way of talking about.

I quickly checked my voicemail.

"_Bella, hey it's Alice. We just saw you walk off with a guy. We want to make sure you're okay. Call me when you get this."_

"_Bella, so we're still waiting for your call."_

"_You're starting to freak us out. Please call us!"_

"_Dear god, Bella. You better not be dead somewhere!"_

"_Rosalie says I'm probably interrupting some steamy hot sex, but I don't care. I just hope you're okay. Please call me!"_

"_Bella, it's morning now … you better be calling me!"_

"_ISABELLA MARIE SWAN! It is now 3:45 pm and I haven't heard from you! If I don't get a call from you in the next half hour I'm coming over to your house to see if you're alive! I'm really scared!" _

Crap.

I chucked the last of my stuff in my bag and quickly locked my office door on the way out. I noticed a few students had been by to sign up for conference slots and the idea that they were already taking my class seriously made me smile.

But I didn't dwell on the thought since I had a very scary Alice probably hunting me down as I stood there. I raced out of the building, much in the same fashion I had this morning but for a drastically different reason.

The morning hubbub had died down and there was a lot less foot and car traffic, making my walk back home much faster and obstacle-free.

When I got to my house though, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Standing at my front door was Alice with her arms crossed, her toe tapping impatiently and a very angry look on her face.

"Isabella Marie Swan, you better have gotten laid last night because I am going to kill you for not calling me and telling me you were okay," she said icily.

I gulped.

"Alice, would you believe me if I told you I don't remember a single minute of it?" I admitted.

Alice's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. "No."

I nodded, too ashamed to admit that I had absolutely recollection of what very well could have been the best sex of my life for all I knew.

And then it all came down on me again. The sex, the morning, my class, Tanya. Everything.

I burst into tears and my bags dropped from my arms. Alice unfroze and closed the few steps between us. Her small arms wrapped around me and held me tight. I buried my head in her low shoulder and let the sobs flow freely.

"Ssssssssh, Bella. Everything's going to be alright. Let Mama Ali take care of you," she cooed and rubbed my back.

She fumbled for my bags with one hand walked me into the house with the other.

Once inside, Alice took placed both of her tiny hands on my cheeks.

"Bella, whatever's wrong is nothing. Everything's going to be okay. You did nothing wrong," she soothed. "You know what we're going to do?"

I hiccupped and frantically wiped at my tears.

"W-what?" I choked out.

"We're going to pig out on ice cream tonight and watch Brat Pack movies!" Alice's eyes twinkled with her plans.

I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her.

"Alice, this is why I love you so much," I laughed through the last of my sobs.

"No, you love me because I tell when you're being an idiot. Like right now for instance," she laughed with me.

"Can't argue with that, Alice."

And with that, we began our ice cream and 80's movie night.

* * *

**A/N: No offense intended to sorority girls. The term "sorostitute" was used at my school among those of us that didn't much like Greeks. I have absolutely nothing against them, especially since some of my best friends are Greeks. It's just a funny term I like. **

**Sorry, last chapter until next week probably. See you then! **

--

A/N #2 - So it's been brought to my attention that Bella's age and position are in no way possible in a real academic setting. I was vaguely aware of this, so I'm not at all shocked that someone brought it up actually. So she's probably not a professor ... I know. She's probably little more than a glorified teaching assistant. My college freshman English prof was a doctoral student. So it's entirely possible that Bella got a position teaching English in college, even if her official title isn't "professor". She just likes to use it because it makes her sound professional. And she's in no way tenured to the position either. That's why she's trying to be super good and professional. She needs a few years before she can get tenure (I think? That's how it works with my high school teacher friends.). I'm sure my explanation is crap, but I just wanted to point out that it's entirely possible that at 24 Bella is teaching a class by herself even if it's just as a glorified grad student. And to top it off ... it's freaking fiction people!


	3. Chapter 3: Digits

**A/N: Thank you for the amazing reviews and faves/alerts! 67 reviews on one short chapter! Wow! **

**Side note: Jake will not appear in this story … at least so far I think he won't. If he does, I promise he will not cause drama like he did in Across the Airwaves. **

Note: Stephenie Meyer owns everything. I just borrow the characters. If I owned them, I'd never let Edward come out and play. Edward Cullen does, however, own me.

**Campus Liaisons**

**Chapter 3: Digits**

We were halfway through Sixteen Candles when Alice's phone rang. She picked it up from the coffee table, looked at the ID and promptly made a face.

"Seriously, can't those idiots at the store handle things for one night?" she ranted.

Alice owned a high end clothing consignment shop in town. People would bring their old clothes in for her to appraise and then sell, with Alice taking a portion of the sale price. Her store was actually fairly well known in Washington and drew people in from all over the state looking for unique pieces.

She flipped her phone open and started answering whatever questions the person on the other end was asking. After a few minutes, Alice turned to me.

"Hey, Bella. Do you have something to write on? I need to take down a few notes on a vintage Chanel dress that just got brought in," she asked.

"Yeah, let me get you some paper from my room," I answered.

I got off the couch and made my way down the short hallway to my bedroom, where my desk was located. It was one of those grand old lawyer's desks, impossibly big and impossibly expensive looking. I'd found it at a yard sale and haggled the owner down to a respectable price.

I grabbed the first pen I saw and a little pad of paper.

But what caught my attention was something I hadn't seen there last night before I'd been wrangled into my girls-only booze night that had turned into something completely different.

A little yellow Post-It was stuck on a book I was planning to use in class this semester.

I picked it up and read what was written on it.

_Call me._

_555-256-6753_

What the heck?

I stood there, absolutely confused as to where the note had come from. It was a number I didn't recognize and handwriting that wasn't familiar to me.

"Bella?" Alice's tinkling voice sounded from outside my room.

I shook my head to clear the daze and slowly made my way back to Alice. She grabbed the pen and paper while I sat down, my right hand still clutching at the Post-It tightly.

"Okay, so you say it's black with an A-line seam and …" Alice said into the phone.

But I had stopped paying attention. I kept staring at the numbers and letters in front of me.

_Call me_.

_555-256-6753_

_Call me. _

_555-256-6753_

_Call me. _

_555-256-6753_

What the hell is going on? Where had this note come from? Who could have possibly put it there?

"Earth to Bella! Earth to Bella!" Alice was shrieking.

I finally looked up from the note and Alice's eyes were trained intently on me, occasionally flickering to the note in my hand.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"What's that?" she asked and craned her head to read the note.

"I have absolutely no idea."

"Hmmmm, 'call me.' Well, obviously there's only one explanation for this," she laughed.

Confusion washed over me. What?

"Huh?" I asked.

"Seriously, Bella. Sometimes you're just so dense. And you say you have a Masters?" Alice rolled her eyes at me.

My own eyes narrowed on her before I huffed.

"Well, if you would be so kind in your infinite wisdom explain to me what you think is going on, I would very much appreciate that!" I squawked.

Alice laughed full throated at my annoyance.

"It's about damn time you realized I am smarter than you!" Alice giggled.

"Just tell me!"

Alice's laughter finally subsided and she grinned at me knowingly.

I rolled my eyes again. Stupid Alice for being so smart.

"Isn't it totally obvious? This is from your guy last night!" she squealed finally.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh!

OH!

"Oh!" I exclaimed.

"You should totally call him!" Alice squealed again and flailed her arms around in the air.

"NO!" I shouted firmly.

Alice's stilled and her face became a mask of confusion.

"Why?" she asked softly.

"Because it's bound to be the most awkward conversation I've ever had!" I answered.

"Oh, come on. It won't be that bad," Alice scoffed.

"Really? What could I possibly say? 'Oh hey, I'm not sure if you remember me because I sure as hell don't remember a damn thing about you. Hell, I don't remember if I even got off from you or not. Oh and what's your name? Cause I certainly didn't catch it when we were having sex!'" I mocked.

"Well, you could say that …" Alice trailed off.

"Alice!"

"Or you could just say 'I just thought I'd call you back and tell you I had a good time last night.'"

"But that's the point! I don't even know if I did have a good time!"

Alice in turn rolled her eyes and sighed deeply.

"Seriously, it couldn't hurt. And if he picks up and you freak out or something, just hang up. Here, I'll even let you call from my phone so he doesn't have your number," she said.

I thought about her offer and the idea of finding out who I'd slept with last night really intrigued me. I hadn't been a relationship for a long time, practically ages. I'd had flings through college, but I'd pushed myself so hard to get through undergrad early that I hadn't had much time. And grad school had afforded me almost no time to waste on a social life, much less a love life.

It certainly couldn't hurt.

Could it?

I let out a loud sigh and held my hand out for Alice's phone. Her answering squeal rang out louder than all her other ones so far tonight. I shook my head while a few soft laughs escaped my lips. Alice was so easy to please.

"Okay, just remember. Play it like you remember everything. That will make things so much easier," Alice reminded me.

"I can do this. I can do this. I can do this," I chanted, more to myself than Alice. It was my way of psyching myself up for this call.

I stared at Alice's cell phone for a minute before I finally found the courage to dial the guy's number. My fingers were shaking as I glanced back and forth between the dial pad and the Post-It, not wanting to make a mistake and accidentally get some guy named "Mad-dog" who liked beer and broads.

Finally the number was completely entered and I pressed send, bringing the phone up to my ear hesitantly.

It rang and rang and rang. Each ring would make me hold my breath, not sure if I either wanted him to answer or not.

Six rings. He didn't pick up.

But his voicemail did.

The smooth voice on the message shocked me. It was disturbingly alluring.

"_Hey, it's me. You know the drill. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."_

Before the beep could sound, Alice piped up.

"Voicemail?" she whispered.

I nodded, my eyes wide with fright.

"Leave a message!"

I frantically shook my head and quickly pressed the end button.

"Why the hell did you do that?!" Alice shrieked and jumped off the couch.

I buried my head under a throw pillow and plastered myself flat against the couch, groaning loudly.

"He didn't even say his name. How could I just leave a message saying "Hey … you. Remember the girl you fucked last night? Yeah, this was me. Wanna shag again?". No, I think I would die of embarrassment before I ever let that come out of my mouth again," I mumbled into the couch cushion.

"Or you could pull a Rose and just ask to him "come over and fuck you again so you could remember it this time." Alice's laughter rang out through the living room.

"Or that."

"Well, I would love to stay and chat with you, but sadly I have to run over to the store. Chanel waits for no one!" Alice chuckled and grabbed her phone that was still clutched in my hand.

"Thanks. I'm glad that I'm being pushed aside for some dress," I muttered.

"Bella! You speak blasphemy! It is not just 'some dress'! It is vintage Chanel, circa 1950! Bite your tongue, child," she scolded.

"Fine, just go. I'll be here, wallowing in my complete embarrassment of getting sex without the memories," I said after pulling my head out from the soft pillow.

"Later gator!" Alice laughed and danced toward the front door.

The television was still playing and Molly Ringwald's Samantha was leaning over the birthday cake to kiss Jake Ryan.

I sighed at the scene. Some things were just too easy for some people. Why did my life have to be so messed up sometimes? Why couldn't I just find my Jake Ryan?

"Oh, Samantha. I wish I could be you sometimes," I sighed. "You have Jake. And what do I have? A torn condom wrapper and missing memories."

Some things are never easy.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. I just really wanted to get something out since you all were so lovely to leave me encouraging messages. I will probably be doing another chapter on Friday and possibly Saturday, since it is a long weekend for me thanks to Labor Day. **

**Also? Are you looking for some amazingly raunchy smut (that this story is sorely lacking in so far)? Check out my new one-shot, Duelism. You won't be disappointed. **


	4. Chapter 4: Encounters

**A/N: I really struggled to get this written today. I pretty much busted out 10 pages of smut for the sequel to Dualism called Permission (link in my profile!) and was incredibly distracted by the loveliness of the Twilighted boards. **

**I'm beyond exhausted and if there's typos in this, forgive me. I'll reread this tomorrow and fix any I find. **

Note: Stephenie Meyer owns everything. I just borrow the characters. If I owned them, I'd never let Edward come out and play. Edward Cullen does, however, own me.

**Campus Liaisons**

**Chapter 4: Encounters**

Though Alice kept haranguing me to call "Mr. Sexy Times" (as she'd taken to calling him), I'd managed to resist the almost siren-like call of his phone number.

The Post-It was securely taped on to the front of my fridge, mocking me with its yellow paper and careful handwriting every time I passed by. My eyes were instinctively drawn to it.

_Call me. _

Crap.

I was obsessed.

My eyes would draw around the round numbers, circling the tail of the 5s and snaking past every pen stroke. The more I looked at it, the more beautiful it became. The more it taunted me, the more I had to resist lunging my hand for my phone and dialing as quickly as possible.

Why didn't I just give into temptation and make another call?

Because it would have been the most awkward conversation of my life. What could I really say to him? I didn't know his name, I didn't know what he looked like, I didn't know if he'd even stayed the whole night. And I sure as hell didn't know if he'd been good or not. I wasn't about to call up some guy who's possibly been terrible in bed and start something up with him unless I knew exactly what he was like.

I needed details.

But I didn't know his name.

And I was too chicken to call him.

But I wouldn't get details unless I called him.

I was floating on the edge of a conundrum. For a few hours I'd be all for calling him and just jumping off that ledge, but then I'd swing violently in the opposite direction and want to run and hide in a corner.

I oscillated between the options for days, and finally picked the one I felt most comfortable with. The safest one.

I didn't call back.

I knew it made me a wimp, but I just wasn't ready to find out anything about the guy I'd had a one night stand with. I preferred to come up with my own fantasies.

In my head he was tall and extremely handsome, well-muscled and smelled delicious. I've always had a thing for guys that smelled good, that's for sure. Of course Mr. Sexy Times had great hair too, hair that begged me to run my fingers through it all day.

I imagined his laugh too, oddly enough. It was a laugh that was musical by nature, yet could turn in so many different directions with the drop of a hat.

My imagination ran away from me so often, I even found myself dreaming about him. But the curious thing was that every time I had the dreams, I couldn't see his face. He was always turned away from me or was hidden in some other fashion. It was the weirdest thing and always left me confused and delirious when I woke up.

The one thing that kept me from descending into my obsession with my MST was the fact that I had to stay relatively sane for my class.

I'd assigned the first book, _Lolita_ by Nabokov, and we were having a rather heated discussion in class one day.

"I just think he's a creep. I mean, honestly, he's an old guy who's giving goo-goo eyes at a pre-teen. In every state in the country that's illegal!" a girl named Emma said.

"Well, remember there are several mitigating factors to his obsession with her," I replied from my perch on the edge of the little table in the front of the room.

"What factors? He's old. She's young. It's weird," Tanya quipped in her annoying voice from the front.

I fought the urge to grate my teeth from the sound of her voice. It was worse than fingernails on a chalkboard or a desk being pulled across the old linoleum floors. My blood curdled every time she opened her mouth.

"I really think you all should look outside of the ages," I said, trying to maintain my calm exterior.

We'd been arguing about the age difference between Humbert and his Lolita for several class periods and our discussions were getting us no where. We'd been revolving around the same issue for days.

"Professor Swan?" a velvety voice rung out from the back of the room.

I snapped my head up and my eyes scanned trying to find who'd said my name. A guy with reddish hair in the back corner had his hand raised and an impatient look plastered on his face.

"Yes …" I trailed off. This particular guy had never spoken in class before and I'd actually been concerned that he wasn't paying attention most of the time. He spent a majority of class not even pretending to listen to me or the other students. Half the time I didn't even realize he was there he was so quiet.

"Edward," he said and stared at me intently. There was something so familiar about the way he looked at me that almost made me have some kind of déjà vu, but I couldn't pinpoint exactly where I'd seen him before.

I shook my head quickly and tried to get rid of the sudden feeling.

"Yes? You wanted to say something?" I asked.

"Well, I think the obvious issue most people are having with Humbert is his physical age. But that doesn't into account his emotional age. When Annabel died, he stopped developing. His body continued to age, but his brain shut down. He was permanently stuck at that age and that explains his obsession with young girls. He's forever trying to replace Annabel, a girl who died before they could consummate the relationship," Edward said.

My mouth was hanging open and I couldn't form a reply. He had just stolen everything I was trying to get across for a week now. Every concept that the rest of the class had failed to pick up on he had just rolled off his tongue like it was no big deal.

And he hadn't spoken up through all of our discussion. He'd let the other students wander around a point that none of them had grasped and didn't seem to think it was a big deal that all this pointless was wasting both my time and the class's time.

To say I was annoyed would be an understatement.

"So am I right or not?" Edward smirked and crossed his arms across his chest.

My hand clutched at the book I held, trying not to let my annoyance show. He was a student. No worse than Tanya. Hell, he was easy next to Tanya. I could deal with him.

"Edward has made an excellent point," I said and stood up from my perch on the table. I turned my back to the class to hide my face. "Humbert's actions are not merely centered around his obsession about young girls as an adult, but also the death of Annabel so early in his formative years."

I heard a soft chuckle from the behind me and I could only guess who it came from.

I took several calming breaths before I turned around and continued.

"For our next paper I would like you all to pick a side in this argument and defend it using at least three scholarly sources to back your claim up. Remember they need to be reputable, not just Google searches off the Internet," I said evenly.

A round of groans rolled through the classroom, but Edward stayed silent in the back. His eyes were still trained on me and it was beginning to get uncomfortable. I squirmed under his intense stare.

So I took the chicken's way out. Again.

"Um, 5000 words, double-spaced, due in two weeks. Class dismissed. I'll see you all next time," I mumbled and quickly gathered my stuff, retreating once again to the safety of my office.

I made myself busy with whatever leftover paperwork I'd saved from the previous day and lost track of time until I heard a firm knock at the door.

"Can I come in?" someone said from outside the door.

I glanced at the sheet I'd tacked up on my board with all of my student's conference times and groaned when I saw who was listed for today.

Edward Cullen.

The same Edward who'd just made a complete fool of me by summarizing the point I'd been trying to make for several class periods.

The same Edward whose smirk had annoyed the hell out of me.

The same Edward whose eyes had bored into mine all of class today.

But I could avoid him. He was my student and I needed to be civil towards him. After all, how bad could he really be? I didn't need to talk to him that long, just long enough to look at his journal and see if he had any questions or anything like that.

"Come in," I finally managed to say.

The door opened and in walked a calm and collected Edward, a tan messenger bag slung across his torso.

I waved at the seat that the students sat in and he sat down, almost too gracefully for someone of his size.

"So Edward," I said, my voice strained and tight.

"Professor Swan," he replied.

I turned in my chair and faced him. Edward was leaning forward, his hands together and elbows wresting on his spread knees.

"Do you have your journal with you?" I asked.

Edward moved and withdrew a red spiral notebook from his bag. He handed it to me and I flipped to the first page. His handwriting was neat and tidy, much more so than most male students' tended to be.

I quickly scanned through what he'd written and was immediately taken aback by the depth of his writings.

He talked about how he identified with several of the characters in the story in some aspects, explaining how their perspectives influenced the way the story flowed and pointing out some excellent thoughts that I barely picked up on myself when I'd first read _Lolita_.

I was very impressed.

I looked up from his notebook to see Edward staring at me intently again and immediately my eyes fell to the page again. A blush crept across my cheeks and my hair fell forward off my shoulder.

I flipped through some of the pages and continued reading, only to be further amazed.

"This is very good," I finally said.

"Thank you," Edward replied in a very melodious tone.

I finally glanced back up and Edward wasn't looking at me anymore, instead his eyes were off to the side as if he was purposefully trying not to look. A small smile played on his lips.

"So do you have any questions or anything you want to talk about?" I asked.

Edward's gaze returned to mine and he smiled widely at me.

The pit of my stomach seemed to drop out and my heart rate picked up a bit. There was definitely something very alluring about his smile. Very charming.

Sexy even.

I gulped to get rid of the lump that had formed in my throat and took a shaky breath.

"Anything at all?" I squeaked.

"Nope, I don't think so. You already know what my position on the paper will be after today, so I think I'm good," Edward grinned again. My stomach flip flopped.

"O-okay," I stammered.

"Is that all?" Edward asked.

I nodded, too lost for words in the memory of Edward's smile to form words.

I mutely closed his notebook and handed it back to him. Edward took it and replaced it in his bag. He moved to stand up and slung the messenger bag over his shoulder.

My mouth hung open and I still couldn't manage to find anything to say.

Edward was at the door before either one of us said anything. He turned to me, his face a mask of serious and said, "Sorry about today, Professor Swan. I really didn't mean to embarrass you. It was terribly rude of me."

"S'okay," I mumbled.

Edward opened the door and left the tiny office. The door swung shut behind him and I heard the click of the handle.

I looked down at my hands and they were shaking lightly.

I shook my head and tried to come up with an explanation for what had just happened.

I'd been disarmed by a student. Not in the same way Tanya had disarmed me the first day of class, but in a completely different way. A way I couldn't quite put my finger on.

What the hell was going on with me?

* * *

**A virtual cookie to those who figured out Edward is one of her students. But there's more to the story than meets the eye, just you wait. **


	5. Chapter 5: Exceptions

**A/N: Thanks everybody for the continued great reviews! I get so excited reading them! **

**Much thanks to my new beta cdunbar! **

Note: Stephenie Meyer owns everything. I just borrow the characters. If I owned them, I'd never let Edward come out and play. Edward Cullen does, however, own me.

**Campus Liaisons**

**Chapter 5: Exceptions**

My days seemed to pass smoothly, my time almost completely devoted to work. When I wasn't in class I was preparing for class, or dealing with student's conferences. I was actually beginning to think I'd made the wrong decision to schedule conferences.

Every night I would collapse into my bed and fall asleep almost immediately. My dreams were punctuated with Mr. Sexy Times and various scenarios I'd created with him. In one we were walking along the beach hand in hand, watching the setting sun. In another we were playing pool at a bar, his body dangerously close to mine as he taught me how to shoot.

But my favorite ones were where I got to relive our sex. I'd been so piss ass drunk the first time that imagining it left so many possibilities open.

I was having one particularly delicious dream one night. I was completely naked and he was crawling up my legs, slowly kissing each and every inch of my soft skin. My head fell back onto the pillows and my eyes clenched shut. I could feel his soft lips on my legs, his tongue darting out ever so often to taste me.

He then suddenly hitched my legs up, placing my feet flat on the bed and spreading my legs apart. My fists balled the sheets and my back arched up just at the idea of him touching me more.

I felt his hot breath running down my legs and suddenly burst across the aching juncture of my legs.

"Bella," he crooned.

I groaned at his soft voice and the way his fingers were dancing over my skin.

"Bella, you need to look at me," he whispered.

I fought every instinct to keep my eyes tightly shut and slowly brought my head up, prying my eyelids apart.

There staring at me, his head between my legs, was the last person I expected to see.

His shaggy reddish hair stuck straight up in an untidy mess and his green eyes sparkled with desire.

My mouth fell open in a strangled cry.

Edward Cullen.

My student.

"What tha?" I gasped.

Edward grinned at me, the same wide grin he'd had that day in my office, and slowly licked his top lip.

A frantic buzzing suddenly sounded and Edward's eyes narrowed on me. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but the only thing that came out was more buzzing.

I shot up in bed, drenched in sweat and panting furiously. The early morning sun was pouring in through my bedroom window and I frantically lunged for the alarm clock, the source of the incredibly annoying disruption to my dream.

My dream with Edward. My dream with my student.

I groaned loudly, breaking the silence of the room.

I'd been having a sex dream about my student. I was like one of those high school teachers who got caught dipping in the underage pool. It was wrong. Just plain wrong.

He was my student. I shouldn't be having these kinds of thoughts about him. I shouldn't be thinking anything about him other than how he was doing in my class.

I buried my head under my pillow and wallowed in my self-disgust for a few minutes. All too soon though, the alarm clock went off again, reminding me to get my sorry butt out of bed.

"Fine, fine," I grumbled.

Sadly, I did not have the luxury of sleeping in today. The papers I'd assigned were due today and I had to be there to collect them and then assign the next book. Luckily though, I'd told my students that those two things were the only things we were going to do. Class would probably be over in less than 30 minutes.

I had a few conferences today, but they were early and I could probably sneak out of my office early.

After showering and getting ready, I made my way to the English building and grabbed the manila envelope from my office to hold the papers.

My students were nervously flitting around the room when I got there, probably because this paper was the first one I'd assigned. Sure, I'd met with all of them already and seen samples of their writing, but those were journals. This was a paper.

I called off each name from the attendance list I'd received at the beginning of the semester, and each person handed me their paper.

Tanya sneered at me when she handed me her paper, her red nails reminding me of talons. She stamped back to her seat and sat down in a huff, all while I fought the urge to roll my eyes. She was still upset that I hadn't cracked on the first day and I assumed she was still trying to come up with some way to make me cry by the end of the semester.

My fingers ran down the list and settled on the next person. Edward Cullen.

My stomach did a flip flop and my throat immediately went dry.

Relax, Bella, I thought. It was just a dream. Just a dream. It's normal to have sex dreams about people you see a lot. Alice once told me she had a very explicit sex dream about her drycleaner, she saw him so often. She'd had to switch drycleaners because she'd been too embarrassed to face him again.

So this was completely normal.

Wasn't it?

I sucked in a shaky breathe and called his name.

Silence.

I looked up and found the seat he normally sat in. He wasn't there. His seat was empty.

"Edward?" I called.

"Oh, Professor Swan?" Tanya's sickeningly sweet voice called.

I turned to her, grimacing at the ever present sneer she had plastered across her bubblegum pink glossed lips.

"Yes?" I replied.

"I don't think Edward was going to make it to class today. I totally saw him at a party last night and he was pretty hardcore grinding on some ugly girl," she laughed contemptuously.

The pit of my stomach fell. I felt like I'd been kicked in the gut. Why was I feeling like this? He was my student. I should be mad that he wasn't here to turn his paper in, not feeling dare I say … jealous … that he was all up on some girl's junk and blowing off class.

"What?" I said, my voice sounding weak even to my own ears.

"Oh yeah! He's such a man whore. I'm sure he totally got her to give it up and he's all passed out in her bed right now," Tanya giggled.

My mouth fell open in shock. No. This wasn't right. Nausea was threatening to overwhelm me and I had to take a few swallows to get rid of the sick feeling in my stomach.

"Um," I mumbled.

"Professor Swan?" Angela's soft voice called.

I turned to her, my mouth still wide open.

"Are you okay?" she said, her concern for me obvious.

"I'm fine," I squeaked.

I shook my head and tried to dissipate the images of Edward grinding on some girl in the middle of a crowded frat party with a beer in one hand and the girl's boobs in the other.

I'd dreamed of him between my legs once and now I was getting sick of the idea of him touching another woman. What was wrong with me? It was a dream. Nothing more!

Before Tanya could throw out another juicy detail to kick me in the gut, I called out the next name. When all the papers were handed in and safely tucked in the manila envelope, I managed to croak out the reading assignment for our next book, _The Heart of Darkness_ by Joseph Conrad.

"See you all next week," I mumbled and grabbed my stuff. It was beginning to be a pattern. First Tanya completely disarmed me, then Edward, and now Tanya again with her gossiping about Edward.

Back in my office I shuffled the stack of papers around, trying to do anything to distract me from what had gone on back there.

The alphabetizing didn't help.

All I could see was the image I'd had before.

Edward. The girl. His hand. Her boobs.

And worse. The look in his eye as he danced with her.

I reached for the water bottle on my desk with a shaky hand and nearly dumped the entire thing on the papers when a knock sounded at my door.

"Come in!" I exclaimed after taking a deep swallow of water.

The door opened and in walked the very same person I'd been picturing in all his drunk, groping glory.

Edward.

"Professor Swan?" he asked, standing casually just inside the door.

"Uh, yeah?" I managed to respond.

"I'm sorry I didn't make it to class today. My printer broke just as I was trying to get this done this morning, and I had to run to the lab on campus. Is there any way you could still accept this?" he said smoothly.

"I … uh … I don't know," I mumbled. I'm sure my eyes were wide and I had that same dumfounded look on my face as when he'd last been in my office, so very close to me.

But now I'd had a dream with him in it. A very explicit dream. With groaning and moaning. And skin. Lots of skin.

"Please, Professor Swan?" Edward asked and his face dropped into such an innocent pleading look my knees would have buckled if I wasn't sitting down.

Edward pulled the chair forward and sat down, leaning forward. My body prickled being so close to him, my senses went into overdrive.

He smelled so good. Delicious even. Like I just wanted to eat him and devour every inch of him.

I couldn't place exactly what it was about him that smelled so good, but it wasn't any cologne I'd ever smelled before. While most men's colognes tended to smell too sweet or musky for me, Edward's smell was completely different. It was fresh and clean, like laundry that had just gotten out of the dryer. Or wildflowers in a meadow. Or the way a baby would smell after a bath.

Anything but too sweet or musky.

"Professor?" Edward asked and I was immediately brought out of my thoughts.

"Oh, yeah. The paper!" I said hurriedly.

"The paper," he grinned.

"Well, I put in the syllabus that no late work would be accepted ..." I said.

"I was hoping you'd make an exception for me."

My mouth pulled into a tight line from his words. He wanted special treatment?

"So you want me to treat you different than all the other students?" I quipped.

Edward's grin only widened. Cheeky bastard.

"Well, I was hoping I could make it up to you somehow," he responded slowly.

"Make it up?" I asked, my eyebrows shooting up. Immediately I was brought back to my dream, and the image of Edward between my legs flashed through my mind again. My cheeks lit up with a blush and I hoped he didn't catch it.

"Extra credit of some kind."

I thought about his proposal for a minute. He wanted me to make an exception to a rule I'd clearly outlined in the syllabus. Break the rules. Bend my will to his.

I was tempted to turn him down and tell him I wouldn't accept his paper late, until he shifted in his chair and scooted closer to me. My body reacted against my free will and I leaned forward, my hands almost aching to find his.

Edward reached his hand up to his hair and ran it through the strands, standing it all angles. So much like …

And then it happened.

Edward's tongue peaked out and ran along the length of his upper lip, the light overhead glinting on the wetness.

My jaw dropped and all rational thought vanished. All I could concentrate on was his tongue. His damn tongue. How it moved. How it swirled along his lip and caressed the skin there.

How he'd done the same thing to my skin in my dream. My thighs. Other places I wanted his tongue.

My mouth was watering just at the thought and if Edward hadn't spoken up, I probably would have started drooling on myself.

"Professor?" he said, snapping me from my lewd thoughts about his tongue.

My eyes zoomed up and found his, and the fact that they were green shocked me. I didn't recall paying any attention to his eyes the last time he'd been in my office. I must have had a very good imagination to create such an accurate detail.

"Um, okay," I mumbled.

"You'll take my paper?" Edward grinned again.

I nodded, still too lost on his lips that continued to move.

"Great!" he exclaimed and shoved the paper into my now trembling hands.

He stood up and moved towards the door.

"Thanks Professor! I appreciate this! I'll make it up to you somehow!" he laughed.

"Okay," I said dumbly.

He was out the door before I managed to pull myself together. I looked down at the sheets of paper in my hand.

Edward Cullen.

I sighed.

Edward "in between my thighs in my dreams" Cullen.

I banged my head against the desk trying to get the images out. Maybe a little brain damage would do it. Finally after about ten hits, and with my temple starting to throb, I stopped and just wallowed.

"He's a student. He's a student. He's a student," I chanted.

Just then my cell phone started going off with Alice's ringtone and I grabbed it quickly. I needed a distraction and I knew just how to get it.

"Please tell me you want to drink tonight," I said quickly.

"Hi to you too, Bella!" Alice squealed.

"You in or you out?"

"Actually I was calling you to see if you wanted to go out tonight, but I guess you got there before me," Alice laughed.

"Oh, thank god," I sighed.

"But I have one condition for you, which I think you'll agree to, considering your last foray into drinking went so well," she said seriously.

I rolled my eyes at her words, knowing exactly where this was going.

"Let me guess. No tequila?" I laughed.

"No tequila."

I couldn't agree with her more.

* * *

**A/N: Just to let everybody know, it's highly unlikely I'll write another chapter tomorrow. My brain's on full melty mode after the last few days of hardcore intense writing. **

**See you on the flip side!**


	6. Chapter 6: Real Life Fantasies

**A/N: I know I said I probably wouldn't write today, but I couldn't get this out of my head. So you're lucky enough to have another chapter today. But this time I promise you … I will not be updating until Friday. For real. **

Note: Stephenie Meyer owns everything. I just borrow the characters. If I owned them, I'd never let Edward come out and play. Edward Cullen does, however, own me.

**Campus Liaisons**

**Chapter 6: Real Life Fantasies**

"Bella! Stop pulling at that skirt!" Alice bellowed in the small space of the cab.

"Alice …" I whined and continued tugging on the small piece of material. "This _thing_ could hardly be construed as a skirt. It's more like a loin cloth than an actual piece of clothing."

"Seriously, do I have to teach you everything? You're 24. You're single. And you're female. But the kicker? You're on a college campus! So what are you complaining about your clothing for?" she asked, jutting her finger in my face.

Rosalie quietly snorted on the other side of me and I spun my head to face her.

"Oh, not you too!" I exclaimed.

"You really are a piece of work, Bella," Rose laughed. "You need to get out more often. We had so much fun last time and all you've been doing for the last month is stupid work."

I crossed my arms and hugged them tightly against my body. The halter top Alice had thrown at me was almost much too small for my taste.

"Yeah, 'cause that ended real well last time," I grumbled.

"So what? You got laid. You got no strings attached sex. It certainly doesn't look bad from where I'm sitting!" Rose chuckled.

"Rose! I don't think Emmett would like you saying that!" I exclaimed and her cheeks went bright red.

Emmett and Rosalie had been secretly dating for a few months, thinking that nobody was onto their little encounters. They tried to pretend like they were just casual friends when other people were around, but I could read the tell-tale signs. She immediately was more interested in anything anybody said as soon as they mentioned his name and Emmett practically interrogated me whenever I said anything about her.

"Why would you say that?" she croaked.

"Oh, no reason," I said slyly.

"We're here!" Alice squealed and clapped her hands.

The club Alice had selected for tonight's excursion was a little removed from campus. That was one of my conditions when we went out. The campus bars were great … if you were okay with possibly running into your own students. That was something I definitely wasn't okay with, especially tonight. I was out with the specific intention of not thinking about my students.

Granted, there was still the occasional college kid here and there, but it was mostly locals just looking to have a good time and let go of the stresses of every day life.

Alice pulled me out of the cab and I groaned when I saw that there was a line.

"We're never going to get in!" I pouted.

"Oh, Bella, Bella, Bella. You disappoint me. For someone so educated, you really are pretty dumb sometimes," Alice laughed. "Rose, you ready for 'Operation Boobs'?"

"Yep!" Rose replied.

I watched as the two of them fixed their skirts, sliding the material up their legs, and pulled the edge of their tops down. Their cleavage ballooned up and the girls adjusted their boobs so they sat just a little bit higher and closer together.

"This is ridiculous," I mumbled.

Alice huffed lightly and said something under her breath I didn't catch. She grabbed my hand and pulled me along behind her and Rose as they marched right up to the bouncer at the door.

"Hello, ladies …" he said as his eyes firmly attached themselves to the two sets of plumped up breasts in front of him. I could practically see his tongue rolling down out of his mouth.

"We were just wondering if there was any way we could get in so we didn't have to wait," Rose said, leaning forward and placing her palm on the bouncer's enormous muscled chest.

"Um, um, um," he stammered.

I snickered at him. Poor guy didn't even know what hit him. Rosalie had that effect on most men. She just walked in, swept their worlds into a frenzy and walked away, leaving them completely blindsided.

"Please? It's so cold out here," she whined and stuck out her bottom lip to pout.

"I can see that…" he mumbled. By this point I'm sure Rose's nipples were shooting straight at him. That was her secret weapon.

Rose leaned in further to him, her breasts brushing up against his torso. She whispered something in his ear and his eyes instantly widened. He got a big dopey grin on his face and waved his hand to let us go by.

He stood there, completely dazed and unaware of his surroundings, as we walked on by him.

When we were finally inside, I tugged on Rose's arm and she spun to look at me.

"What did you say him?" I hissed.

"Well, just that I might be able to give him a good time later if he let us in," she grinned.

"ROSE!" I squealed.

"I didn't promise him anything! That's why I said maybe!" she laughed.

"Are we going to get our drinks or just stand here arguing about whether or not Rose just promised a guy a blowjob to get in?" Alice whined.

"Get the damn drinks," Rose said. "Bella needs to majorly loosen up."

Alice made a beeline for the crowded bar and managed to slip in between the hoards of bodies. She was back faster than I would have imagined possible, probably because she pulled a "Rose" on the bartender.

"Three Slippery Nipples!" she exclaimed and thrust the little shot glass in my hand.

"Alice!"

"What? They're good. Now drink up, little missy! I'm tired of your bitching. And when you're done with that one, we're getting more."

The three of us clinked our shots and swallowed them together.

"Guh!" I bellowed.

"Yum!" Alice laughed.

"Tasty!" Rose exclaimed.

"Time for round two!" Alice quickly said after the look of disgust wore off my face.

Before I knew it, she was handing me another drink in a similar glass.

"What's …" I said.

"Screaming Orgasm," Alice stated.

"Geeze, why don't you just get the Fuck Me drink," I responded and rolled my eyes.

"They have those here?!" she squealed and ran back to the bar.

Rose just laughed and took her shot in one swallow.

"Eh, bottoms up," I relented and gulped mine.

Alice returned with a dejected look. "They didn't know what a Fuck Me was. So I settled for a Sex on the Beach."

I took the larger glass and we slipped through the crowd, finding a table in the back of the bar that was only partly covered by empty beer and cocktail glasses.

We stood around and made small talk, with Alice mostly gibbering away about some beautiful vintage Valentino ball gown that had been transferred into the store by one of her friends in California. Apparently Alice had an eye for ball gowns and knew all the right people to contact whenever one came in.

When our drinks were finished, Alice went off to get more, but I told her to hold off on mine. I was already beginning to feel the effects of the three drinks I'd had.

The crowd was really beginning to pick up and we were getting quite a few looks from guys. Alice giggled and went off with a guy who asked her to dance.

"So … Bella. How's Emmett?" Rose asked, toying with the rim of her glass. I could tell she was totally trying to play it coy, pretending that she didn't know.

"He's doing well. He asks about you a lot," I responded and pushed around my own glass.

"He does?!" Her eyes lit up with my words.

"Oh, yeah. All the time," I said and grinned at her.

Rose just stood there and stared off into space, a small smile playing on her lips. I knew that look. It was the same hazy look she always got when she was thinking about Emmett.

Silly Rose. If she only knew how completely obsessed Emmett was with her.

"You know what I want to do, Bella?" Rose said all of a sudden.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Let's dance!" she yelled.

Rosalie pushed our glasses aside, into the growing collection of barware, and pulled me to the crowded dance floor.

Strobe lights overhead were pulsing to the beat of the music, giving the bar more of an air of a disco than a small club. People were packed in the tight space and I caught a glimpse of Alice with her guy grinding together in a corner.

_Little Alice and her hips_, I thought. She's dangerous with those things. Almost as dangerous as Rose and her nipples. They both could get anything they wanted with their secret weapons.

Rose and I started dancing to the music, though Rosalie was making it look far better than I was. I probably looked more like a monkey having an epileptic seizure than someone club dancing.

The temperature was beginning to rise and I could feel beads of sweat collecting on my forehead and neck. All these people around me, with their bodies moving with the music and the added bonus of the liquor swimming through my veins, was causing some serious perspiration.

My body swayed, my hips danced, and my feet moved just right.

The more I danced, the more the alcohol was beginning to affect me. Everything around me was beginning to fade. Rose's tinkling laughter called out to me and I vaguely was aware of her wrapping her arms around some guy next to us.

So I just started dancing by myself. It was something completely unlike me to do normally, but alcohol had the funny effect of giving me a lot more confidence than I usually had.

I closed my eyes and just pulsed along with the music. My head was swimming in the wonderful sensations of my drinks and I was giving myself over to the pounding beats.

Behind my eyes the best images were popping up. My bed, rumpled sheets, a smattering of reddish hair. And then the sounds.

Dear Lord, the sounds.

Moans and whimpers. Frantic panting. Loud groans.

And him.

Edward.

I couldn't fight the image of him that floated behind my eyes. My willpower that I'd built up during the daylight hours had long since faded, instead replaced by the tingly sensations I felt whenever he was around.

All I could think about was _him_ and the way he smelled. And sat. And his eyes. And hair. His damn hair. How my body reacted whenever he was near.

I imagined his strong arms circling around me, holding me tight and moving with me to the music. The strength of his body was evident.

His skin ... his scent ... god.

It was so real. Everything seemed so real. I could almost feel him against me.

"You need to look at me..." a soft whisper said into my ear.

So real.

"Bella," the voice said again.

My eyes snapped open and I spun around, coming face to face with the same person I'd just been fantasizing about.

Edward.

In the bar.

Right behind me. Holding me. Touching me. Pressed up against me.

"Edward!" I gasped. "What are you doing here?"

He grinned at me, the same grin I'd seen countless times already. The same grin he'd had in my dream. Between my legs. In my office. And in my fantasy.

_He's a student. He's a student. He's a student_, I chanted in my head.

_Crap, he's a student._

"Can't I come out and enjoy my Friday night a bit?" he said innocently.

"Um, I guess," I mumbled. "But what are you doing here? With me."

Edward's green eyes blazed into mine and I almost felt myself lose control of my body. They were so deep, so unending. The color of rich emeralds and forest foliage. Rich and beautiful.

"I saw you out here on the dance floor by yourself. So I thought I'd come and say hello to my favorite literature professor," he responded.

"Oh," was my simple response.

We stared at each other for a moment, bodies still pulsing around us. It seemed neither of us wanted to break the electric moment.

"How did you get in here?" I finally asked, shattering the silence between the two of us.

Edward's eyes went down and a blush crept across his cheeks. He bit his lip and I just about came undone again. That same damn lip. I was quickly beginning to have a _thing_ about his lip. About how I wanted to see them, touch them, feel them … kiss them.

God, what was wrong with me.

He's a student.

"Oh, I have my ways," he said with a devilish smirk.

Edward put his hand on my hip and I jumped from the sudden contact again between us. He placed his other hand on the bare skin of my shoulder and the heat of his hand against mine was blazing. A jolt ran through me, the electricity flooding my body and overriding any logical thought process.

My brain officially turned to mush.

I forgot anything and everything except Edward standing in front of me and the feel of his skin against mine.

I was frozen to the spot as he leaned his head forward. His nose drew along my jaw line and I shuddered from the feel of it. His cheek was baby soft against mine, not a trace of scruff or fuzz. I'd never felt a man's skin so soft.

"I think there's something between us here," Edward whispered into my ear, just loud enough for me to hear over the blaring music.

I weakly nodded my head, too lost to having him so close to me.

His breath was hot against my skin and his delicious scent was sinful in my nose. Too many sensations rolled through me at once.

And then it happened.

I lost any remaining bits of my sanity.

I gave in.

I quickly pulled my head back from his and crashed my lips to his mouth. He responded instantly and fully. Edward's mouth molded to mine and hungrily lapped at me.

His arm slipped down from my shoulder to my bare back and pressed me into him. I gladly relented and my body fit into his so snugly. His arms locked around my waist and he only pressed his lips to me harder.

A soft moan rumbled through me and Edward caught it in his mouth. Nothing escaped between us. Not sound. Not air. Not breathe.

His tongue traced along my lip, seeking entrance to my mouth. That damn tongue. It was getting me in trouble again, but this time it was an amazing type of trouble.

I opened my mouth and Edward's tongue intertwined with my own. If I thought the smell of him was delicious, the taste of him was mouthwatering.

God, I just wanted to swallow him, to envelope him, take him into me. Crawl inside his damn body.

He ground his hips into mine and I could feel his pressing arousal.

That feeling against my leg brought me back to reality.

My eyes snapped open and I had to conjure every ounce of willpower I had in me, even though none of it seemed to want to appear.

He was my student.

This wasn't right.

I couldn't do this.

My brain was screaming at me to stop, to pull back, to run away, to do anything but do nothing. And yet, my body was saying the exact opposite. It wanted more. So much more.

Edward moaned deep within his throat and my body seemed to overrule my mind. It was in full control again.

My eyes slid shut again and my lips continued to move in sync with his.

Fuck it.

I decided as long as I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly.


	7. Chapter 7: Beauty

**A/N: Umm, wow. I've never had that many reviews for a single chapter! I am so ridiculously grateful I can't even describe it. You all amaze me. **

**Sorry about being a day behind my promised schedule, by the way. My deepest apologies. **

Note: Stephenie Meyer owns everything. I just borrow the characters. If I owned them, I'd never let Edward come out and play. Edward Cullen does, however, own me.

**Campus Liaisons **

**Chapter 7: Beauty**

Edward's fingertips ghosted over my bare arms. Despite the both the blazing heat of the club and my own rapidly rising temperature, his touch sent shivers down my spine. It was practically electric. His fingertips were rough against my skin, but he touched me with amazing tenderness.

Finally we broke our amazing kiss and I was panting for air. His forehead met mine and his nose brushed against the tip of my own nose.

"I want to get out of here," he said huskily, his voice belaying his desire. "Would you do that?" His green eyes sparkled behind his heavy lids.

"Please," I begged, my own voice much lower than normal.

Edward released me from his body and took my hand. His long fingers curled around mine and I instantly felt relaxed. He smiled at me, the same random grin I'd seen so many times before.

We practically ran out of the bar and I silently thanked my lucky stars I had already shoved money, my ID and my phone in the pocket of my miniature skirt.

He hailed a cab and we climbed in when one pulled up. Edward gave the cabbie an address I didn't recognize and smiled at me. My confusion must have been obvious because he quickly said, "My place." I nodded my assent.

The car pulled away from the curb with a start and the force threw my body into his arms. They instantly curled around me and held me tight against him.

I couldn't tell you how long the ride was. This was mostly because Edward's lips were constantly dragging up and down my neck, keeping me thoroughly distracted from my surroundings. I seemed to lose all sense of time too.

In barely an instant, the cab stopped and Edward was pulling me out, his hand once again twined with mine.

The apartment building was nice, maybe five stories high and decently new. But I didn't get much of a better look at it because Edward and I were moving again, this time up several flights of stairs. The cool outside air was electric between us. The momentum of tonight was clear.

There would be no stopping where we were heading.

As if I would be able to stop anyways.

It seemed to me as if this entire semester had been building to this already. Every time he was close to me, all I could think about was him. Edward invaded my dreams, my waking hours, and every moment in between.

There was nowhere I could go where he wasn't on my mind it seemed.

So instead of fighting the inevitable, I decided to go along with it. The stupid little voice in my head telling me this was wrong was strangely silent, and instead it was replaced with the overwhelming urge to throw everything away and be with him.

I wanted him. I wanted to know what was going on inside his head. I wanted to know how his heartbeat sounded when he first woke up in the morning. I wanted to know what he put in his coffee and if he liked peas or carrots.

I wanted to know Edward. In every way.

We stopped in front of a door with small brass numbers proclaiming it to be "446." Edward fumbled for his keys in his pocket with his free hand and finally managed to get the door open after a few tries.

He pulled me inside after him and quickly slammed the door.

Edward turned back to me and a new grin had replaced the same one I'd seen before. This one was different. One side of his mouth was broken off a little, making his smile appear crooked.

"You okay?" he said, his eyes alight with desire.

"Yes," I croaked and held out my hand for his.

He eyed it and quickly took my hand. He pulled me in close and I could feel the heat of his body through his clothes. Edward brought his lips by my ear and I could feel them against my skin.

"Good because I want you to be okay with this. This is about you. All of this. All about you," he breathed.

If I had been holding back, maintaining a store of self-control, it would have been gone with those words. But thankfully, there was no such store. I had so much to lose and everything to gain.

I wanted everything.

My hands slipped up his torso and I pulled his button up shirt out of his pants. His skin was silken here, soft against my fingertips. I grazed my hands over the sliver of bare back I'd exposed and I felt his muscles contract under me.

Edward took a sharp breathe and held me tighter.

I continued by moving my hands lower, over the leather belt holding up his pants and down the material. My hands slipped in the open back pockets and I could feel his ass even through the fabric.

I squeezed and Edward moaned into my neck. His hips ground into mine and I instantly felt his growing arousal.

He wanted this just as much as I did.

This knowledge sent my blood racing and caused fresh wetness to gather between legs.

Edward moved us backwards through the apartment. Through glazed eyes I could see that the furniture was nice, nicer than most college guy's places. It was relatively clean and kept up.

Though I was really only interested in one place: his bedroom. I wanted us there quickly. With his hips grinding into my center and his hot breath on my neck, I needed to get there quickly or I would completely soak through my panties at the rate I was going.

My eyes slid closed against their will and I let Edward take over. I relinquished control of my body to him. I gave myself over to his will. I could no longer control my limbs and my heart rate was steadily growing dangerously higher. I was almost lightheaded I was panting so hard.

I felt the soft edge of what I presumed was his bed against my knees next. I fell back, but sat up with my arms behind me.

Edward stood in front of me, between my legs. My tiny skirt was pushed higher by his body so close to mine and I'm sure my underwear was visible.

He leaned down and captured my lips with his. They were both soft and firm, pulling me in. Drawing me towards him. His tongue danced at the edge, that same tongue that I'd lusted over more times than I could count. More times than I cared to acknowledge really.

I willingly opened my mouth and let him in. His tongue swam in my mouth, warm against mine. It was strong and instantly enveloped my own tiny tongue. I'd imagined his mouth on mine enough times, but I'd never even ventured down this road. It was always his tongue on his lips, licking them, spreading the moisture around.

But the feeling of his tongue on mine was indescribable. Amazing. Completely worth everything.

And yet there were so many other things that were worth it. Things I intended to get to tonight.

My hands suddenly found a life of their own and I looked to see them running over his chest, balling the material of his shirt.

I pulled my head back so I could concentrate on the buttons. I bit my lip and fumbled with the little plastic pieces.

Edward grinned and wrapped his hands around mine, chuckling lightly.

"You know if you want me to rip this off, I will. You look so damn sexy when you bite your lip," he laughed and grinned the dopey grin of his.

Finally, the last button was undone and the flaps opened to reveal the single best pair of abs I'd ever seen. I actually gasped from the perfection. Not four. Not six. Eight.

Eight.

He had a freaking eight pack.

God, I was lost.

I couldn't stop myself from licking them and tasting him. Edward's hands wound through my hair and guided me along his stomach.

My tongue ran everywhere, up the valleys and over the ridges. He was perfect. He tasted like perfection. So far I had yet to find a part of him that didn't taste amazing. His mouth, his tongue, even his damn stomach.

Everything.

I pulled back and found his head rolled back and his eyes closed. Edward's mouth hung open and it was probably the sexiest I'd ever seen him. So lost in the feeling of my tongue on him.

More wetness flowed.

I reached for the knot in my halter and quickly undid it. The straps fell down, exposing my breasts. I reached my arms out behind me and offered myself up to him. I was his for the taking.

And he just stood there.

It appeared to me he was still lost in whatever was going through his head. So I had to get his attention back.

I nudged his leg with mine and Edward's head instantly snapped up. His eyes met mine first, not even seeing that my breasts were bare before him. My mind rejoiced that he would do such a simple thing. That he would overlook the nakedness of my body to see the nakedness of my soul.

I nodded my head a little and bit my lip again. Only then did his eyes venture lower. When he finally saw what I was offering to him, he groaned loudly and the sound filled the room.

"Dear god, you're beautiful," he moaned. "Can I?"

I nodded again and he reached his hands out, carefully cupping each breast. This time it was my turn for my head to fall back and be lost to the sensation. His hands were hot on my breasts. He gently squeezed them and my own moans filled the room.

His thumbs brushed over my nipples and I spread my legs wider.

I wanted him. Enough of the play. Enough of the joking.

Time for the big show.

"Please, just get on with it. I can't take this teasing anymore," I panted.

He quickly pulled the halter over my head and I lifted my arms up to help him. He flung it across the room and it landed somewhere behind a piece of furniture. I made a mental note to retrieve it later before Edward's hands were on my skirt.

As quickly as he had taken off my shirt he had my skirt undone and gone. I laid there, completely bare on top and wearing only my panties. My favorite ones boy shorts. Layers of white ruffles and green detailing. Alice made fun of them, calling them "little girl underwear" but I loved them regardless. They were frilly and cute, and I was happy when I wore them.

"Those panties are …" Edward trailed off and his tongue fell out of his mouth for a moment. He licked his lips slowly and my body practically melted into the bed. "Delicious."

With that, he attacked. His lips were all over my neck. His hands roaming my body. His hardness pressing into my core.

The only problem? He still had his pants on and I still wore the underwear he loved so much.

I managed to reach between our two grinding bodies and unzip him. I pushed the down as far as I could handle before Edward got the idea what I was trying to do. He arched his body away me, still managing to keep his lips groping at my neck and slid both his pants and boxers off in one movement.

He was naked. There was just one piece of clothing separating him from me.

My panties. My ruffled panties.

Apparently he had the same thought since his fingers were quickly slipping under the elastic and pulling them down. His touch was electric on my legs, so close to where all the blood was now pooling in my body. All sensation was directing there.

All I could feel was him. All I wanted to feel was him.

"Protection," I somehow managed to gasp out between pants in a moment of startling clarity.

Edward stiffened for a second, almost as if he would have proceeded without it. He lifted his head and looked at me. His green eyes were pleading for forgiveness. My heart wrenched to see that look on his face.

I brought my hand to his cheek and caressed it.

"It's okay. I almost forgot too," I said soothingly.

"I'm so sorry. You were just so tantalizing," he whispered.

"I forgive you," I answered and smiled.

Edward reached into the nightstand next to the bed and fished the little packet out. He brought it to his teeth and ripped, drawing out the little round latex ring. The sight of him laying on top of me, ready, with a condom between his teeth was something that I couldn't even describe. It was the most amazing sight I'd ever seen. His eyes flashed with fire and he quickly reached between us to roll it on his length.

"Okay, ready now," he grinned like a little boy.

He was anything but. He was sexy. Naked. Close. So unbearably close.

I nodded again and our show began all over.

His hot lips found mine and our dance resumed. He drew himself through my slick wetness and the feeling of him rubbing against me was absolutely maddening.

His chest was pressed against mine, and just enough of his weight was on top of me to make the entire thing all that more erotic. I could feel him, all of him.

He wasn't holding back.

I was seeing the real Edward.

Not the one who put on airs in class. Not the one who had been a cheeky bastard to me in my office that day.

But the one who had written all those deep, insightful things in his journal. The one who could look in my eyes and turn my insides to mush. Cause my bones to become spongy from across a room.

He drew his head away from mine and his eyes locked with my own.

I could see everything in that moment. I could see into his head, into his soul.

It was beautiful.

He was beautiful.

The depth, the sense of self, the staggering intensity of his face alone.

It was almost too much.

But at the same time it wasn't enough.

Edward's lips captured mine one last time as he entered me. They molded to mine has as my body molded to his.

He started slowly, testing me. But soon, he began to pick up his pace. Like he was tired of the waiting too. Everything that had happened between us had led to this point. From the first time I had met him, we had been moving toward this moment.

It was a force that couldn't be stopped.

When planets shift, there is nothing you can do but relent. You are powerless to resist the call of something stronger, more powerful.

In that moment, with our bodies writhing against each other and the air around us quickly becoming musky with our sweat, I felt it.

It was staggering.

Mind-blowing.

And terrifyingly scary at the same time.

God, I was petrified. He wasn't the only one baring their soul in this union.

So was I.

It wasn't that I was scared to be with him. No, it was quite the opposite actually.

It was that I wanted to be with him more than I probably should. More than was healthy. More than was sane.

Rules be damned.

"God, Bella," Edward groaned and with one last thrust, threw his head back.

His pale neck tensed and the chords and muscles stretched. With closed eyes and the same mouth open agape, he was more beautiful than I had ever seen.

So much beauty contained in one person. How was that possible?

It was that thought that sent me over with him, plunging over the precipice into the murky depths below. My body tensed and clenched, every nerve cell firing at once. My own mouth was open in a wall-shaking scream, followed by his name rolling of my lips.

I clutched him to me, wishing with everything in me that we could be locked in this moment for all of time. Never go back to the world where there would be repercussions.

Just him and me. Forever locked in this bliss.

But we couldn't stay.

Nothing is ever that simple.

He collapsed next to me, panting and gasping for air. It was a long time before either of us were coherent enough to have a sense of what came next.

But I made it there first. For once, I was the better communicator.

"Edward?" I whispered into the silence.

He rolled on his side and propped himself up with his elbow. He grinned at me and his hair stood at all angles. That damn sexy hair of his.

"Yes?" he answered.

I thought about what I wanted to say before I spoke. I needed to phrase this just right. It was a question that had been plaguing me the whole evening, always in the back of my head.

"You don't seem like the rest of the students. You don't seem to be their age. What's going on?" I finally asked.

His grin fell and panic washed over me.

He ran his free hand through his hair and it stood at even more random angles, if possible.

Edward was silent for a moment before speaking.

"See … that's a funny story," he said after his moment of silence.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger. There was just too much to contain in one chapter. **

**And to let you know, I know I said Fridays will be my writing days, but I'm not sure I can hold to that. Things come up sometimes. I get distracted. I'm sorry, I truly am. I will always try my best though. **

**Note: FF is being a jerk and not sending emails, so if you send me a message I might/might not get it. Sorry! If you don't get a response within a day or so if you send a message, try sending another one. **


	8. Chapter 8: Blissful

**A/N: Seriously, I cannot thank everybody enough for the overwhelming response to the last chapter. I hope this chapter answers at least one of your questions, even if it stirs more. **

**Also, I think I will be revising my writing schedule so that Saturdays will now by my writing days. Friday nights are my chill nights after a long week of classes. Thanks for being patient with me. **

Note: Stephenie Meyer owns everything. I just borrow the characters. If I owned them, I'd never let Edward come out and play. Edward Cullen does, however, own me.

**Campus Liaisons**

**Chapter 8: Blissful**

"_See … that's a funny story," he said after his moment of silence._

I turned my body in his bed so I could face him and rested my head on my arm. I wanted to watch him as he told me whatever he was about disclose.

There was something my head that was telling me that what he was about say would change everything. That his disclosure would rock my world and suddenly tilt it on its axis completely.

Edward's green eyes were full of a look I don't think I'd seen in them before: sorrow. He was sad about something.

"It's okay, you know. You can tell me anything," I said quietly.

He smiled meekly and it pained me that it didn't reach his eyes. They were still distraught.

Edward inhaled deeply and raked his hand through his hair again.

"Well, no time like the present, I guess," he sighed. "And when I say 'funny' I'm not sure there's anything really humorous about it. I think I mean 'funny' in more of a strange and unusual way."

I smiled at him, encouraging him that he could tell me whatever he was holding back.

"You're right to say I'm not like the other students. There's a very good reason for that," he said.

My stomach twisted and lurched. I tried to keep the sick feeling off of my face.

"Which is?" I mumbled.

"I … uh … I took a few years off," he stuttered uncharacteristically.

I blinked a few times to process what he'd said and nothing seemed to be registering. A few years off?

"Um, what?" I finally asked.

Edward turned his head away from me and his eyes cast downward.

"I took a few years off of school between high school and college. I needed some time away from my life," he said and put his hand on my hip, starting to massage the skin there lightly.

His touch sent electricity through my body and I could feel the knot in my stomach dissolving. How could he do that? How did his mere touch calm me so much?

Despite the calming influence Edward was having on my body, my brain was still in overdrive. It was frantically searching through what he'd said so far, trying to make sense of his simple words that seemed to have such a much deeper meaning.

"Why did you need a break?" I finally asked.

Edward's eyes met mine again and I sensed pain behind them.

"For as long as I've been school, I've pushed myself. I always wanted to be something more, do something greater than myself. Give something to the world that nobody else could. The obvious choice was to be a doctor. My father's a doctor and I thought that was the perfect path for me to take. I could make sick people better. What better use of my time was there? But my senior of high school, something happened," he said and his face contorted into one of distinct pain.

I took my hand and ran my fingers up and down his jaw, trying to soothe his hurt.

"You don't have to tell me. I'll understand," I breathed.

"No, I want to tell you," Edward murmured. He paused and pushed his face into my hand lightly. His eyes closed and a much more serene expression found his face. "My mom died. My birth mother that is. I'm adopted. When I found out she had died, I was devastated. I hadn't really ever known her and there was just this intense sense of loss for me. She was gone and I would never know her."

My heart clenched for his pain. It was so evident on his face and in his voice that I wished with everything in me suddenly that I could take it all away.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered.

Edward opened his eyes and I found the emerald green clearer.

"Thank you," he said. "I took a few years off. I needed to get away, away from every pressure I had in my life. I traveled. I saw the world. Learning about everything. Looking for myself really."

I smiled at his words.

"What did you find out? About yourself, I mean," I asked.

Edward breathed in deep before answering me.

"I found I need stability a lot more than I thought I did. I found I needed someone to take care of. I needed less pressure. I needed to not be so serious about everything and just take life as it came to me. Roll with the punches, so to say."

"That sounds so …" I trailed off.

"Childish?" he snorted.

I shook my head.

"No, it doesn't sound childish. It sounds perfect," I replied and smiled.

"You think?" he asked and smiled back at me.

"Yeah, I do. I think I need to do that more too."

We laid there for a few minutes. Edward's hand was still gently massing the skin on my hip and our eyes were locked. I almost believed I could tell what was running through his mind, or at least what I hoped was running through his mind.

I wanted him to be comfortable with me. I didn't know what brought about this sudden change of heart, this sudden shift away from my normal view that there should be a clear and distinct line between the two of us.

Maybe it was the connection we had made. Sure, the sex was hot and his body called to me a lot more than any other's had before, but there was seemingly something more.

He had given of himself, shown me something that I'm not sure many others had before me. I now held something important of his. Something precious to his past. I wanted to be worthy of that trust he'd placed in me.

Everything he said swirled around in my head, mixing together with what I already knew about him. And then the first thing he'd said when he started his explanation came back to me.

"So you said you took a few years off. How old are you exactly?" I suddenly asked, breaking the silence that had dropped over the room.

Edward smiled tentatively at me before speaking. "You really want to know?"

"Of course I do."

"Promise me you won't be mad at me."

I smiled and a light laugh escaped me.

"Why would I would be mad?" I chuckled.

"Well, like I said. I took a few years off," he answered.

"Ok, so what. You're twenty. Twenty-two maybe. No big deal."

Edward inhaled sharply and grimaced.

"Do I really look that young? Did you really think I was eighteen or nineteen?" he asked.

"Um, I don't know. You have a baby face, I think."

It was his turn to chuckle at me and when he finished that broken smile returned to his face.

"I'm 25."

My breathing stopped cold and all logical thought ground to a halt.

25? He was 25?

Edward.

The same guy who was a sophomore in college. The same guy who I'd thought all along was maybe nineteen was now suddenly six years older than my original estimate.

What.

The.

Hell.

And then it hit me.

He was older than me.

I was 24. He was 25.

I was the baby. I wasn't the one taking advantage of him. Granted, he wasn't exactly taking advantage of me either, but this new revelation changed everything.

I was right to think what he would tell me would change everything. Because it did.

I was no longer the adult in the relationship.

Wait, did I just think the word 'relationship'?

"What?" I croaked out.

"I'm 25, Bella," Edward stated with more conviction. "How old are you?"

I stared open-mouthed at him. I couldn't find my words. I couldn't find my thoughts. I was only aware of Edward's hand still on my hip, a hand that was now dangerously close to my inner thigh and the feelings said hand were starting to stir within me.

"I-I … I'm 24," I finally managed to stutter out.

For seemingly the millionth time that night, Edward inhaled sharply.

"24. You're younger than me. That's … surprising," he drawled out.

My eyes narrowed on him.

"Why is that surprising? How old did you think I was? You know, that's almost mildly insulting," I quipped.

He chuckled at me, low and throaty. My annoyance melted. I just couldn't stay mad at him tonight.

"Well, I thought you were at least 27. You seem so adult. So grown up. So mature. I'm just surprised because I've never met anyone like you before. And I've met a lot of people. I've always been very good at reading people and you burst into my life upsetting everything I thought I knew about reading people," he grinned.

"Why?"

"Because you never do what I expect you to do. I always think you'll done one thing and then you just … do something completely unexpected that knocks the wind out of my sails," Edward said slyly.

"Like what?" I asked and furrowed my brow.

"Well, I expected you to completely cave to Tanya and breakdown crying, but you didn't. You put her in her place and told her the way it was going to be. I liked that."

"She annoyed me. I was having a bad morning and she hit the wrong nerve," I quipped.

"Bad morning?" he asked.

"Woke up naked and reeking of sex and tequila," I said quietly without thinking and instantly regretted it. I turned my head away, not wanting to see his reaction to my sudden revelation.

Edward was quiet for a moment and I had absolutely no idea what going through his mind. The prospect that I scared him by mentioning my one-night stand even in vague generalities was terrifying.

"Oh … uh … wow. Well, uh, I'm sorry," he stumbled over his words.

I yawned against my will and Edward grinned at me.

"You're sleepy," he cooed.

"No, I'm … fine," I replied, but the sentence was punctuated by a yawn. "Damn."

He chuckled at me.

"It's okay. You should sleep. I'm sure you had a long day. Collecting papers and all," he laughed.

My eyes narrowed on his gorgeous face. Papers. The paper he'd convinced me to take even though it was clearly in my syllabus that I wouldn't.

"What?" Edward innocently asked, but I detected he knew what was running through my head.

"I'm still annoyed at you for that, you know," I quipped and poked in him the chest with my finger.

Edward grinned again and leaned down to my face. His breathe was hot across my skin and the sensation was divine. He brushed his lips across mine slowly, delicately.

I felt like my insides were liquefying. My brain lost all sense of anything except the sensation of him being so close and his lips barely a hair's breathe away from being fully on me. His hand shifted and his palm laid flat against my back, pulling me closer to his body.

Unable to resist his pull, I moved in. His body was hot against my own already warm temperature. My breasts brushed his chest and the feeling made my nipples harden instantly.

God.

He was good.

His lips danced up my cheek, placing soft, delicate kisses along the way. Edward's lips found the space right below my ear and he kissed it, sucking on the skin. I could feel my own pulse beneath his lips, beating furiously.

My head titled to the side, giving him better access to my neck. Edward's lips continued to move against me, furiously lapping at my soft skin.

I don't know what he was doing, but whatever it was, it was working. Everything in my head was erased. Only the thought of him and what he was doing. His body pressed up against mine. His hand caressing the skin on my back. His lips pressed up onto my neck. His hips against mine. His growing hardness against my thigh.

The sensations. The feelings.

The overwhelming urge to just stay here.

In his bed. With him.

Forever.

My world fell by the wayside whenever I was with him. It was as if my vision tunneled and my thoughts were centered on him and him alone. I couldn't think, couldn't concentrate when he was around.

His body called to me, luring me in. The silent and strong tug I felt to be with him was something I just couldn't ignore. I'd tried for so long, but I had failed miserably.

There was something about him.

Something more than just hot sex and soulful insights into literature.

Something that made me want to stay.

Always in his arms. Always under his lips. Always next to him.

"Are you still mad at me?" Edward whispered into my ear.

"What?" I mumbled.

"I hope you're not still mad at me. I don't want you to be mad. I want you to be happy. Just us, here in this moment. Happy. Because that's what I am. So ridiculously happy I can hardly describe it," he breathed into my skin.

"Okay," I squeaked out.

"Are you happy? Here with me?" he asked and sighed.

"Insanely blissful."

I felt him smile against my skin and I couldn't stop my own corresponding smile as it raced across my face.

"That's all I want. I just want you happy."

I yawned again, and Edward chuckled.

He drew his head back and drowsiness pulled at the corners of his eyes. I traced the corners with his eyes with my fingers and he smiled under my hand.

The both of us yawned at that moment and I couldn't help but laugh. Edward responded with his own small laugh.

Everything seemed right in that moment.

Perfect.

He shifted again and laid on his back. His arm pulled me in the crook of his body and my head pressed into his shoulder.

I could feel sleep washing over me, taking me away from Edward into a land punctuated by dreams with him as the star.

Our breathing evened out and the quiet of his bedroom was soothing. His sheer presence next to me was enough that nothing else mattered.

Tomorrow was a new day.

But tonight? Tonight was ours.

I thought Edward was already asleep when he broke the silence.

"Sleep, my beautiful Bella. Whatever comes will come. Until then, we can be happy," he whispered into the darkness.

The last thing I felt before sleep consumed me was his lips pressing a soft kiss into my hair.

Blissfully happy.


	9. Chapter 9: Revelation

**A/N: Happy Campus Saturday! I hope you all enjoy this chapter as it's something I'm sure you've all been looking forward to for a long time. **

Note: Stephenie Meyer owns everything. I just borrow the characters. If I owned them, I'd never let Edward come out and play. Edward Cullen does, however, own me.

**Campus Liaisons**

**Chapter 9: Revelation**

If my dreams about Edward between my legs had been amazing before, I didn't have words to describe that they were now.

Perfect? Amazing?

Fucking hot?

That was probably as good a description as any. As good as I was at interpreting the English language, I was suddenly at a loss for words when it came to describing the amazing sensations I felt when I was with him.

I felt a cool breeze along my arm and shifted in my sleep. I was enjoying my dream too much to wake up now. The things he was doing to me were more amazing than I ever fantasized about, even in my wildest moments.

"Bella…" a silky voice whispered in my ear.

"Not now," I groaned and tried to roll over. Something tightened around me, preventing my movements.

I swiveled my hips, mimicking what I was experiencing in my dream, and a stilted groan pierced my ears.

My eyes flew open and I found myself looking right into the very eyes I had just been dreaming about. But my mind could come up with nothing as brilliant as the green of Edward's eyes. It was as if my mind was one of those old style televisions and the reality was high definition plasma. Crystal clear.

He grinned at me, his eyes twinkling and his teeth as white as a fresh snow. My own smile mirrored his and he leaned down to kiss my forehead.

Edward's lips were hot against my skin, and the instant they touched me I felt my own heat beginning to pool between my legs. A dull ache started to pull at my consciousness and I realized it was also centered between my legs.

I was laying on my stomach, one leg thrown over Edward's hips. My center pressed into his side and I ground myself into him. The ache needed attention. The throb needed relieving.

And there was only way to do it. Only one person who provided me an outlet.

Edward.

I pushed against him again, my eyes sliding closed from the wonderful feeling, and that same stilted groan rang out.

Once again, my eyes flew open and Edward's head was tilted back, his mouth hanging open. The look on his face was so sexy. I couldn't resist him when he looked like that, as if I could really resist him at all anymore.

I pulled myself swiftly across his body, straddling him with my legs. My hands found purchase on his shoulders and I leaned down. I pressed my lips to his, furiously hard.

I wanted to feel everything. I wanted him to know that I wanted to be here with him, despite everything in the world telling me I shouldn't. I was his teacher and even if he was older than me, it still wasn't right for us to be doing this.

Ethics. Those damn ethics.

Well, screw ethics. They weren't Edward. And at this moment, ethics weren't the first thing on my mind.

The incredibly hot, naked guy underneath me was.

And I intended to do something about it.

My lips left his and trailed up his jaw, leaving wet kisses along the way. He'd teased me plenty enough last night and now I would repay him.

The skin beneath his ear was soft and welcoming, luring me in with his magnetic scent and taste. I greedily sucked on him there. Maybe I would leave a mark; maybe I wouldn't. I honestly didn't care that much.

I just wanted to taste him again.

That same delicious, mouthwatering taste that invaded my senses and overwhelmed my thought process. I lapped at the skin, not content with just sucking on it.

Edward rolled his head, giving me better access to his neck.

Perfect.

His hands moved to my hips, gripping me hard and pressing my backside into his steadily hardening cock behind me. I could feel the heat and I groaned into Edward's neck.

I needed him in me again. Now.

No waiting.

"Please," I begged into his skin.

Apparently he understood what I meant because one of his hands left my waist and reached over into the bedside drawer for protection. He rifled around in there for a moment and my patience was beginning to scream that we didn't need it when he finally pulled one out.

Edward brought it to his mouth and tore it open before reaching behind me to roll it on.

He replaced his hand on my waist and rolled his head back to meet mine. His eyes locked with mine and I saw the same glint of desire I'd seen last night.

But this time it was laced with something else. Something deeper.

The same something I'm sure was reflecting back from my eyes.

Something I didn't want to name just yet, but was still there. Lurking below the surface. Ready to come out and either unravel our worlds around us or bring us closer together.

I knew neither of us was ready to travel to that place just yet, and I chose to ignore the tugging on my heart I felt with his eyes on me.

I nodded to him, giving him permission to continue even though I didn't feel the permission was necessary. I had already come this far with him. I had already made the first move this morning.

Wasn't that enough?

But the fact that he still asked despite my forwardness was heartening. My heart again tugged at me, screaming to recognize the feelings now hammering at the edge of my brain.

Edward lifted me up and slowly, very slowly, brought me down on him. He filled me completely, up to the brim. From this angle he hit places within me he hadn't last night. It was so much more intense, so much more personal.

We quickly established a rhythm and Edward's hands guided me when I was too weak from the pleasure and passion to hold myself up any longer.

My hair hung down in front of my head, surrounding his face and blocking out the world. It was just us inside that curtain. Protected from everything. Enjoying the moment of two bodies connecting in the most ancient dance possible.

His hips began bucking up to meet my bounces and I could feel his body tensing beneath me.

It was once again the look of passion on his face that did it to me.

"Fuck, you're beautiful," Edward groaned and bucked hard against me, thrusting deep and hitting the one spot guaranteed to elicit a reaction from me.

I threw my head back and a deafening cry rang out. Every nerve fired and all my muscles clenched at once. My toes dug into the bed and my legs tightened around his waist.

Edward's hands dug into my hips as he came with me, falling over the edge and hitting his own peak.

Together. We came together.

I collapsed onto top of him, spent and sweaty.

He rolled us so we were on our sides and his hand cupped my cheek gently, almost reverently. Edward pressed his lips to mine softly and even through the light graze of his mouth on mine, I felt that something. The thing I was ignoring still.

Not now.

Not yet.

Too soon.

Soon enough, though. Very soon probably.

We lay there, on our sides and reclaiming our senses, for awhile. I think I must have lulled off to sleep for a bit because the next thing I remember was Edward gently pushing on my shoulder.

"I have a question for you," he whispered into my hair.

"Um, yeah?" I mumbled.

"Can we go to your place today?" Edward asked.

I pulled back and looked at him questioningly.

"What?" he grinned, his face a mask of feigned innocence.

"Nothing," I mumbled, still a little confused from his request. "That's probably okay."

"Well as I've always said, the first step in getting something done is getting your smelly ass out of bed and into the shower," he laughed.

Forty five minutes and a communal shower (that turned into more of a groping session than an actual shower) later, we were both clean and ready to leave. I very well couldn't walk out of his place in my teeny skirt and halter top, so Edward managed to find me the most nondescript looking clothing he had. The sweatpants were kind of long and baggy, but they were comfortable and smelled like him. The t-shirt was well shrunk, almost fitting me perfectly. I slung my hair up in a ponytail and we were off.

Yes, I did the walk of shame out of his apartment. And even though every part of me was saying I should probably care about this, I couldn't muster enough willpower to care.

His car was close thankfully, so my walk didn't last long. Also thankfully, nobody was around to witness it.

I slid into the passenger seat of the silver car and sunk down into the plush leather seats. I always had enjoyed the smell of fine leather.

I directed him through the city to my house, and the whole while Edward's hand was securely locked with mine. His fingers clenched and unclenched steadily, and there were moments I honestly had to remind myself to breathe.

Edward parked in my driveway at my direction, mostly because of the tall bushes that relatively hid prying eyes from seeing him.

I don't know why, but I was suddenly very nervous about having him in my house.

"You okay?" he said quietly. His eyebrows pulled together in a look of concern.

The butterflies in my stomach turned into cannonballs. It was one thing to be with him at his place, but to be in mine was a wholly different proposition.

My hand gripped the doorknob and I ducked my head away from his watchful eyes.

"Um, yeah. I'm fine," I mumbled.

The door swung open and moved inside. My house was still dark and the remnants of my last takeout meal were strewn across the coffee table in the living room. I was embarrassed as hell that my house wasn't nearly as neat as Edward's was. I didn't know how he had so much time between classes to clean and maintain everything. I was only teaching one class but I barely had time to pick up dinner's leftovers every night.

"So, um, make yourself comfortable. I'm going to change," I said and motioned towards the couch.

"Sounds good," Edward responded and went to sit down. I watched him as he settled himself into the plush piece of furniture and another tug ripped through me.

It was as if he was meant to be there. He looked so natural sitting there, like he'd been there all along. Like my house had been incomplete without him there.

But there was also this air of déjà vu that I couldn't quite place. I tried to dredge up where this feeling was coming from, but all I could manage was cloudy thoughts and flashes of a smile.

A very familiar smile.

I pushed away the feelings and went into my bedroom to find more suitable clothing. Not that I didn't love wearing Edward's, but it was probably better for me to wear my own sweatpants than be enveloped by his.

_There will be enough time for wearing his clothes later_, a small voice in the back of my head said.

Wait, what?

Where did that random thought come from?

I wasn't looking for a relationship. I was simply too busy with my class and everything else going on in my life. Papers to grade, lesson plans to form, and so many other things.

Or was this thing we had simply something more? Had we been thrown together so quickly and violently to show me that it was exactly what I needed?

Did I really want to have a relationship with Edward?

Yes.

The answer came to me easily, and I tried my best to push that forward. There was something about him that pulled me towards him. It was as if the whole universe had shifted and was directing me towards him. The pull I felt for him was undeniable, strong and steady.

The electricity between us was clear. The desire amazing.

Right. A relationship.

I could do this.

Couldn't I?

All my previous relationships had been so messed up, so unfulfilling. But maybe they were like that for a purpose. To show me what I had been missing all along when I actually found it.

Maybe I'd found it with Edward. Maybe he'd found me.

Maybe the universe has a funny way of playing tricks on us.

I stumbled around my room, attempting to find something that was halfway decent looking before I settled on a pair of black yoga pants and an old band t-shirt I'd had for years. It was comfortable enough, while still being relatively chic.

I threw the clothes on haphazardly, anxious to get back to someone who was quickly becoming the center of my universe.

I was pulling the t-shirt down and smoothing out my hair as I walked into the kitchen.

"If you want anything to eat or drink, just …" I said and looked up, stopping dead in my tracks when I saw Edward standing there.

His eyes were glued to a little piece of yellow paper in his hand and I immediately knew what it was.

The pit of my stomach dropped out and I fought the urge to vomit. He'd found the Post-It still taped to my fridge. _Call me_, it said. Mocking me. Tempting me.

The look on his face was indescribable. I couldn't place it if I tried. His eyebrows were pulled together and his mouth was twitching.

But then he looked up and his eyes met mine. I expected them to be full of revulsion, but they surprised me by being tinged with moisture.

I took a step closer to him and went to open my mouth to explain.

Edward beat me to it.

"You kept it," he whispered.

His face lit up with a huge grin and my heart suddenly flip flopped. I went from being scared out of my mind that he'd run screaming from my house, thinking I was a whore, to being completely enamored with him.

How did he do that?

How could he play me like this?

Wait … what?

Kept it?

What was he talking about?

My mind suddenly was working overdrive, trying to make sense of those three simple words he'd said.

Another flash of that smile in my hazy memories ripped through my brain. A chuckle sounded in my head. The memory of a touch, a caress, a kiss.

Oh god.

Everything was clear. Crystal clear.

My memories of that night came flooding back to me in a torrent of images.

His hand on my shoulder. His kiss on my neck. His taste on my tongue. His body pressed into mine.

Oh.

Fucking.

God.

I'd slept with Edward that night. Mr. Sexy Times and Edward. They were one in the same. I'd slept with my student before I even knew he was a student.

I'd gotten piss ass drunk and slept with the same man that had been pursuing me for months, only to have gotten me last night.

"Fuck," I whispered.

"Bella," Edward said cautiously.

"You're him," I muttered and looked up at him.

Edward smiled at me, not the same wide grin as before, but a different one. A comforting one. A welcoming one. A beautiful one.

He nodded slightly, confirming what I already knew.

My knees felt weak and I knew I wouldn't be able to stand up any longer.

"Help me," I mumbled.

My consciousness was seeping out, drifting away into the surrounding ether. My eyes rolled back into my head and I did something I hadn't done in a long time.

I passed out.

As I fell, I was dimly aware of strong arms catching me.

* * *

**I just wanted to take a second and pimp out my latest writing venture, Snapshots of Desire. It's meant as a way to get back into writing each week for me and also as random hot sex scenes. Check out the link in my profile. **


	10. Chapter 10: Conversations

**A/N: Sorry for not getting this out yesterday. My brain was all kinds of ADD and wouldn't let me concentrate long enough to get more than two sentences out at a time. Enjoy! **

**Also, no read through on this, so excuse the typos. I'll fix them if I find any. **

Note: Stephenie Meyer owns everything. I just borrow the characters. If I owned them, I'd never let Edward come out and play. Edward Cullen does, however, own me.

**Campus Liaisons**

**Chapter 10: Conversations**

"Bella! You have to wake up! You're scaring me!" Edward's voice called to me.

What was happening?

Oh yeah, I'd passed out right after I'd remembered the night I'd gotten drunk and slept with a soon-to-be student. Who just happened to be the man who was now holding me. And who I also had slept with again.

That.

No big deal.

I groaned and fought to open my eyes. Well, no time like the present to confront this all head on. Sooner rather than later, they always say.

Did they also have something that was appropriate to say when you suddenly remember a guy you'd had a one night stand with?

What was the etiquette for that?

Sorry I forgot how amazing you were in bed because I was too drunk off my tequila.

I wonder if Hallmark sold cards for that. I'd buy a box of them and send them to Edward, one a day. I'm sure that me forgetting his amazing sex prowess was a huge blow to his ego, not that it seemed he needed any help in that department.

"Bella?" Edward said again.

I finally pried my eyes open and found Edward crouching next to me on the couch, probably where he'd placed me after he caught me when I fell.

"I'm fine," I said, my voice cracking.

He chuckled at me.

"You don't look fine. You look like you just fainted," he said and grinned.

"Oh, shut up, you …. sex god," I sneered lightly.

His grin only grew. He sat back on his heels and laughed at me.

"Sex god? Is that what I am now? I figured with you forgetting me and everything I must not be that good," he commented.

I rolled my eyes at Edward.

"Geeze, do I need to tell you how amazing you are in bed? Do we really need to inflate your ego even more? Well, I'll just leave it at this. I was drunk off my ass that night. Too much tequila and not enough tolerance," I said and groaned remembering the throbbing of my head that morning.

Edward's eyes softened and he placed his hand over my forehead.

"Are you sure you're okay? You look kind of green right now," he said.

I huffed and rolled my eyes again, "Really, Edward. I know you're concerned, but really … I'm okay. I just needed to lie down and catch my breath."

"Damn. I thought I could play the concerned boyfriend card and we could have some hot 'let's see if you're okay' sex." Edward pretended to pout and stuck out his lip.

All the possibilities of that statement flashed through my brain for a moment. I mean, I was already laying on the couch so we wouldn't have to go far.

I looked over at my coffee table and saw the piles upon piles of trash and other miscellaneous stuff. My heart sank when I realized I had promised that I would start grading all the papers today. So as much as I wanted to indulge Edward in his 'let's see if you're okay' sex, the likelihood of this happening as well as getting papers graded was slimmer than pre-rehab Mary-Kate Olsen.

Damn. I really was looking forward to hot health check sex for a minute.

"Shoot," I muttered.

His eyebrows pulled together in a look of confusion.

"What?" he asked.

"I really have stuff to do today. Besides cleaning this obvious pigsty, I have a ton of work to do for class. And then there's the stack of articles Professor Lindstrom asked me to read through," I sighed and sat up. I must have moved too quickly though because I immediately got lightheaded and swayed a bit.

Edward's arms shot out and gripped me on either side of my shoulders, steadying me.

"Whoa there, Bella. I don't want you to pass out on me again," he exclaimed.

I took a moment to breathe in deep while the room stopped spinning.

"I'll be fine, Mr. Superhero. Geeze, you catch a girl from falling once and suddenly you're all concerned about her," I joked.

"I think I have every right to be concerned about you. I mean, we've already had hot sex, what, three times now," Edward said and grinned at me. A little dimple sprouted on the right side of his mouth, making him look a lot younger than his confessed age of 25. It was stuff like that that originally made me think he was much younger.

"If you want to be perfectly correct, yes, we've had hot sex three times. But! I only technically remember two of them in perfect detail since I wasn't drunker than a skunk," I corrected.

Edward leaned his head in near my ear and placed a soft kiss on my jaw. It was such a tender action that the same pull on my heart I'd felt this morning returned.

I still chose to ignore it just yet. This was still too new to go to that place.

He turned and placed his lips on the shell of my ear. I heard his breathe pick up slightly and in turn my heart began to race.

"From now on I intend that you'll remember every single one of our romps. Can you do that for me?" he whispered and pulled his head back.

His green eyes were alight with fire and I could only stare at him, slack-jawed.

Seriously, how did he do that? It was amazing.

"Can you?" he asked again.

I nodded, my mouth still agape.

Edward grinned at me again and stood up.

"Good. That's what I like to hear," he said. I scanned him top to bottom and noticed the tell-tale sign that he did indeed like what he heard.

"Well, as much as I would love to stick around and help you with your work, I'm sure I'll just be a hindrance. So I'm going to go, but there's something else I want you to do for me if it's okay," Edward continued.

"Um, okay," I meekly said, still rather frazzled from his ear-whispering abilities.

"I'd like to hear from you later to make sure you're okay, if that's all right. I don't want to have to worry about you all night."

"Um, okay," I muttered again.

For the seemingly millionth time, my speaking skills seemed to have taken a sharp downturn being in Edward's presence. I briefly wondered if he had this effect on every woman before I shook the idea from my head.

The thought of him and other women stirred something just a little too similar to jealousy.

"Since you already seem to have my number, give me a call later, okay?" he said and motioned toward the Post-It he'd placed on a big stack of papers on my coffee table.

"Sure, sure," I responded.

Edward moved towards the front door and took hold of the handle. He hesitated in opening it and turned back around to me.

His eyes found mine and I could sense he had more to say. He bit his lip lightly, confirming my suspicions.

"Just be safe, okay? I don't want to lose you now that I have you," he said with an air of uncertainty I hadn't heard from him before.

My heart clenched at his words. There was that something pulling at me that I refused to acknowledge was there, even though everything in me was screaming to just pay it its dues.

My heart wanted this just as much as my body did. My brain was the only one lagging behind at this point.

"Okay, I promise to be safe," I returned and smiled.

Edward mirrored my smile, but I noticed it didn't seem to reach his eyes. With that, he pulled the door open and was gone.

As the door swung shut behind him, a part of me wanted to run after him. To get him. To bring him back into my house and never let him go again. Never let him walk away.

I realized then that I wanted to spend as much time with him, despite everything else in my life. I was willing to throw away everything and just curl up with him in bed, just enjoying being with him there.

This was definitely a new feeling for me. With all my previous boyfriends, it was nice spending time with them, but they weren't the center of my world. I always had other things going on, other responsibilities that took precedence over them.

But Edward was different.

On so many different levels.

Maybe he was …

No, not yet. I stopped myself before I could get to the rest of that thought. There would be plenty time enough to get there. Right now was not the moment.

I still had other things to do.

Hauling myself off the couch, I gathered up all the crusty old food and disposed of it. I had noticed Edward's apartment, in the brief seconds I wasn't trying to maul him, was spotless. It put me to shame. I wanted my place to be just as clean as his.

When all the old meals were gone and my work was piled into stacks according to their urgency level, I got down to work. First I planned out specifically what I would be talking about in class for the upcoming week.

Oh, class, I thought. Class with Edward. As my student.

That would be interesting.

And not in that "hey, this is a fun TV show!" kind of interesting. More along the lines of "I just had hot sex with one of my students who was definitely interested in repeating said hot sex" kind of interesting.

To say that it would probably be awkward was an understatement. Meeting his parents would be awkward. This would be monumentally awkward.

Wait.

Meeting his parents?

Where did that come from?

I slapped my palm to my forehead, trying to dispel some of these errant thoughts from my head. I was already thinking about meeting his parents. Who's to say he wanted me to meet his parents? Who's to say he even had parents still?

Dammit.

I was head over heals already.

It was hopeless. I was hopeless.

I tried my best to concentrate on whatever work I had in front of me, but inevitably my thoughts always drifted back to Edward. It seemed like every other line in the stupid papers I'd be stopping and staring off into space for minutes at a time, just thinking about him. About what we had already. About what we seemed to be embarking on.

Needless to say, I wasn't being very productive.

Everything was mashing around in my head and not making much sense. To be able to concentrate, I really needed to make sense of all of this.

But there was only one way I could ever make sense of something this confusing.

I'd have to talk it out with someone.

And who did I always talk out my most confusing situations with?

Alice.

Her name rang in my head and I suddenly realized she hadn't called me all day. The last time I'd walked out of a bar with a guy and not told her, she'd been all over my case. Hell, she'd shown up on my porch demanding an explanation.

This was highly unusual.

I climbed off the couch and found my phone among a pile of clothing in my bedroom. I'd tossed it there when I was trying to find something decent to wear around Edward.

Ah, Edward. His name sent waves of warmth over me and I paused, holding my phone in one hand and probably a dreamy look on my face.

No, shake it off. Concentrate, Bella. Alice. You want to talk to Alice.

I quickly pressed her speed dial and listened to it ring.

"Hello?" Alice's groggy voice sounded on the other end once she finally picked up after half a dozen rings.

"Alice?" I asked.

"Bella?" I heard the sound of rustling fabric in the background.

"Yeah, um, did I wake you?"

I looked at the clock and found that it was almost 3 o'clock in the afternoon. There didn't to be a good reason for Alice to stay in bed that late. She never slept this late. Unless she …

The realization of what she had been doing last night after I'd left with Edward hit me and I gasped.

"ALICE! Are you with a guy? Right now?" I yelled into the phone.

"Um … maybe," Alice said meekly.

I couldn't stop the laughter that came out of me. Little Alice and her hips. She'd apparently managed to snag her own one night stand after I'd left.

"Bella! That's not nice! I really like this guy!" she exclaimed.

I heard a softer, more masculine voice in the background saying "Well, I certainly hope so after the amazing se…"

I cut off hearing him finish that sentence by saying, "Alice, I really think you should come over. I kind of need to talk to you about something and apparently you have some explaining to do as well."

Alice huffed on the other end.

"Alice, you owe me. I was worried when I realized you didn't call me today. What was I supposed to think? For all I knew, you were dead somewhere!" I said, trying to play the same guilt card she'd played on me.

"Fine. I'll be there in 45 minutes. And you really, really owe me for this, little miss. You have no idea what I'm missing by getting out of this bed," she sneered.

"Seriously, Alice. I don't want to hear about your wild sex!"

"God, Bella. Lighten up. I'll be there in a bit. Don't jump out of your skin before I get there, okay?"

We hung up and I tried to busy myself with passing the time. I gave up on grading papers after another five minutes and instead switched to picking up the mess that I called my bedroom. There were clothes everywhere, flung in all directions. I even found some of Alice's clothing mixed in with my own.

When I deemed my bedroom clean enough for Edward's presence, I made myself some food. I was happily munching on my turkey sandwich when I realized it had been over an hour and Alice still hadn't shown up.

I frowned at this. Alice was always perfectly punctual.

Finally, her knock sounded after nearly 75 minutes.

I opened the door and Alice stood on the front steps, not meeting my eyes.

"Alice," I calmly said.

She smiled weakly at me and shrugged her shoulders.

"He wanted to say goodbye," she grinned.

I rolled my eyes at her.

"Whatever, just come in." She followed me inside and collapsed on my couch.

"Okay, Bella. This better be good. I had an extremely hot, naked Southern boy who does this amazing thing with his tongue that …" she giggled.

I held my hands up to stop her before she continued with that thought.

"Alice, please. There's plenty time enough for you to explain why your guy deserves the gold in the Sex Olympics. I have my own issues at this moment," I quickly said.

"Spill it then," she said and tapped her watch. "I'm a very busy woman."

I thought about how I would explain Edward to her and nothing was coming to mind. There didn't seem to be any words to explain him.

"Why don't you start from the beginning if you're so tongue tied?" Alice prodded.

"That sounds … easy enough. Well, yeah. I left the bar last night," I said.

"I figured that when you didn't come find me. Find a hot piece to work on that pole up your ass you had last night?"

I felt my cheeks growing hot from her words.

"Let's just say that he worked on the pole, but it wasn't up my ass," I mumbled.

"Bella! You got laid again? Good for you!" Alice exclaimed and started clapping her hands.

"Before you start throwing confetti and ordering a "Bella got sexed up!" cake, it's a lot more complicated than you think," I sighed.

"What's complicated? You had sex. You enjoyed it, didn't you?" Alice asked.

"Of course I enjoyed it. It rocked my world. Literally, I think my world is different this morning."

"Um, okay. You're going to have to explain that one because I'm confused."

I sighed again.

"To start off, he's one of my students."

Alice gasped and clasped her hand over her mouth.

"Bella! You naughty professor!" she gasped.

"I know, right? I'm a terrible person for it. And worse yet, this isn't the first time either," I grudgingly admitted.

"Uh .. what? Not the first time? Are you holding back on me now? Having some tryst with a nice young boy to make up for lost time?" Alice laughed.

"Alice, that's where it gets complicated. He's not young. He's actually older than me," I said and waved my arms around.

"So what? He's older than you. Who cares? Do you like him?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's why it's complicated. I like. A lot. Probably more than I should. I mean, I'm his professor for god's sakes! Even if he is older than me, all that matters is I'm his professor," I winced.

This was my big sticking point. The fact that despite our similar ages, I was still his professor. I still held power over him. I could still get in trouble for this. For what we were doing.

"Bella, this is probably the dumbest thing I could say at this moment, but I'm going to say it. You like him. He likes you, right?" she asked. I nodded and let her continue. "Well, that's all that matters. If it's meant to be, it will work out. If it isn't, it won't. If there's one thing I believe in, it's destiny."

"But …" I started before she shushed me with a wave of her hand.

"No buts, missy. All this other stuff with him being your student isn't important. Having a connection with another person is what is important. All the stupid other stuff is secondary. It will work out. Just concentrate on him and how he makes you feel. If he stops making you feel that way, it isn't meant to be. You just need to accept that sometimes the heart knows what we need a lot more than the brain does. So I think you should listen to your heart in this case," Alice explained.

She sat there for a second letting everything she'd said sink into my head.

Could I really do that? Could I really let the fact that he was my student fall by the wayside in favor of my feelings for him? Feelings that I seemingly had been fighting all along.

Edward's face as he walked out of my house flashed across my mind then. The way he'd told me to be safe. The way I'd wanted to run after him and keep him there with me.

The way he'd looked last night. So beautiful. So deep. So soulful.

I knew I'd have to try. I would have to try to just focus on him and me and the feelings we seemingly both shared already.

"Can you do that, Bella?" Alice asked quietly. "Can you listen to your heart?"

I looked at her and smiled.

"I think I can, Alice. I think I can." My voice was steady and firm.

Alice squealed and clapped her hands again.

She started bouncing on the couch and exclaimed, "Great! Now can I tell you about Jasper?"

* * *

**I also wanted to take a moment and pimp out the new Dirty Talking Edward Contest I'm co-sponsoring. Details and an example piece can be found in my profile. I'm looking forward to many dirty entries and some amazing pieces! **

Also again ... FF is in major fail and isn't sending out alerts or messages. I apologize profusely for this (even though I can't do much about it...) If you send me a message and I don't respond, try again in a day or so. If that still doesn't work, send me an email. I'll post my email in my profile under the DTE contest details.

* * *


	11. Chapter 11: Waiting

**A/N: I almost wasn't going to be writing this week thanks to a complete lack of inspiration, but once again my precious muse helped me out and let me talk out what I wanted to do with this chapter. Sorry it is so late in the day (at least for me). **

**Campus Liaisons **

**Chapter 11: Waiting**

It took another six hours and several of Alice's ear shrieking squeals before I managed to shuffle her out of my house as well. During that time, she told me everything about Jasper I would ever need to know along with many things I never wanted to know.

Alice had always been one to overshare and this case was no different. She detailed practically every second from the two of them met at the bar to the minute she left his apartment.

Of course, Alice also took turns to pump me for more information about Edward as well.

When I let it slip that he was Mr. Sexy Times I think she just about burst my eardrums with her yelling. She was bouncing on my couch so hard that I thought it would break.

"I can't believe you didn't start with that! Guh, Bella. I should throttle you for not telling me sooner!" Alice hollered.

"Ooops?" I said meekly.

"Seriously, you confound me sometimes," she replied and rolled her eyes at me. "You've been lusting over this mysterious guy who you couldn't seem to remember and he was in front of you the whole time. How do you manage to get your pants on both legs in the morning?"

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes on her.

"I do just fine, thank you very much," I snipped.

"Whatever, just don't leave something like that out again," she replied and wagged her finger at me.

Alice settled down and finally left with the promise that she'd call me later to find out how my promised call to Edward went.

I fluttered around the house for awhile before I finally built up the courage to call Edward. The little Post-It was still on the coffee table and I sat in the couch staring at it for several minutes before finally picking up my phone and dialing.

"Bella?" Edward answered excitedly after a couple rings.

"Yeah," I said breathily into the phone.

Just the sound of his smooth voice seemed to calm the earlier nerves racking my stomach. Really, I didn't need to be this nervous calling him. I mean, we'd had sex three times. This was just a simple phone call. One that I was even making from my own phone this time.

"I'm glad you called me. I was getting nervous because it was getting late," he said.

"I had some things to do," I answered.

"So how did those go?"

"Well …" I responded, trailing off. "I got distracted and had to call someone to help me think through a few things."

My answer sounded sufficiently vague enough to me. No need to tell Edward that I was still struggling with the fact I'd essentially started to date one of my own students.

"Did they help?" he asked.

"Um, yeah. I got things cleared up."

He chuckled for a second and I couldn't stop the grin from spreading across my face. Edward's laugh was really one of my favorite sounds in the world already.

"Good. Are you free tomorrow?" Edward said after his soft laughter died down.

I eyed the large stack of papers in front of me and bit my lip. There was nothing more in the world I wanted to do than be with him all day, but realistically I had work to do. There was a possibility that he could come over while I was doing my stuff … but that probably wouldn't work. I'd just get too distracted.

"So are you busy?" he asked again after my moment of silence.

"Um, Edward. I'd really love to spend my Sunday with you. I really would. But I didn't get anything done today with my friend being over and I really think I'll be buried under paperwork all day. I'm sure you would be bored stiff watching me work," I lamented.

"Bella, I could never get bored watching you work. I'm never bored around you. There's always something I can find to hold my interest," he said, his voice dropping somewhat.

I swallowed hard and my pulse sped up. Even without him next to me he still managed to affect my thought process.

"Okay," I mumbled.

"Well, I'll leave you be to do your work then," he said and I could hear the sadness in his voice.

Something pulled at my heart again and this time I paid attention, recognizing the feeling.

Guilt.

I was guilty for doing this to him. Kicking him out earlier when he obviously wanted to stay. Guilty now for putting him off in favor of piles of paper.

There was that part of me again that wanted to throw everything away and just be with him. To lock the doors to the outside world and forget every one of my responsibilities.

"Edward, I'm sorry I hustled you out earlier," I said quietly.

He was quiet for a moment and I could hear his soft breathing on the other end of the phone.

"It's okay, Bella. I understand, I really do. It's a lot to take in at once. I'll be here. In any way you want me. I'm not going anywhere."

Edward's tone was soothing and it brought tears to my eyes. My brain was screaming incoherencies at me and obviously trying to bring something to my attention.

I knew what it was.

But still I pushed it off.

He was saying it without saying it.

The meaning was still the same.

"Thank you," I whispered into the phone.

"I'll do anything for you," Edward said. I pictured him sitting in his apartment, perched in one of the expensive looking armchairs. I could almost see the half sad, half pleased face he probably had and tears again flooded my field of vision.

"I should probably go," I answered and my voice cracked from my emotions.

"Have a lovely Sunday, Bella. I'll be thinking about you all day tomorrow," he said.

I bit my lip. I wanted to keep him on the line. Hell, I wanted him to come over. Or go there. Just to be with him. Just to see his face and smell his smell and just be with him.

I could do this. Thirty six hours until class. I could do that.

Right?

I could wait until class to see him, even if it wasn't the setting I wanted to see him.

The image of him sprawled across his bed, bedsheet covering his legs, flashed across my mind.

That was a much preferable way to see him.

Thirty six hours.

I could definitely wait that long.

Or I could try at least.

Edward and I said our goodbyes and hung up. I stared at my phone in front of me on the table for a good five minutes after that, just thinking.

He was there for me. Any way I wanted.

How much did I really want?

A relationship, that's for sure. Images of the stereotypical white picket fence splashed through my head. Two bronze-haired children, one boy and one girl, played in the yard with a golden retriever puppy. Edward and I sat lazily on a swing on the wide porch, just watching the picturesque scene in front of us.

A future. Maybe our future.

I shook my head clear of the image and my head sunk to my hands.

I was hopeless. I couldn't believe I was letting him affect me like this. I was level-headed. I was intelligent. I was college educated and had a Master's.

But Edward … was Edward.

He had the power to turn my knees to mush and clear my head of any logical thought. He could look at me and instantly all my thoughts were about him.

His touch made my blood boil and his breathe made me pant for more.

The connection was there, that's for sure.

And then all the pieces fell into place suddenly.

Alice's words hit me like a ton of bricks. "It will work out," she'd said.

It would work out.

My world had irrevocably shifted. The whole universe had tilted on its side and thrown us together, for better or worse.

There was a reason I got drunk at that bar that very first night. There was a reason I woke up by myself. There was a reason he was in my class.

And there was a reason we'd found our way back together.

Maybe not anything as hokey as destiny or fate, but there was definitely a reason.

And I would just have to hold onto that.

Saturday night was painful. I kept rolling over, expecting Edward's warm body to be there in bed with me. But he wasn't. My bed was strangely empty. I couldn't find a comfortable position and I tossed and turned all night. There was something comforting about how I'd curled into his side and pressed myself into him.

I finally gave up and hauled my sorry butt out of bed at 6 a.m.

I showered slowly, trying to prolong the experience. All I could think about was Edward being in there with me, his body slick with water. I leaned my head into the tiles and tried to cool off my overheating skin. No such luck. I switched the water to cold to dispel the images and yelped at the sudden change.

The trick worked.

Sunday passed slowly. I trudged through my papers, slowly reading each one. Some of them were better than others. I couldn't stop the laughter from coming out at a few. Did these kids really think this was good writing?

I tried to be as fair as possible and saved Edward's for the last. My bias towards his work was unfair to the rest of my students. Even before last night. Even before knowing who he was.

His words stirred something in me. The power they held was second only to Edward's own physical power.

Every five minutes or so I'd check my phone, to see if he called me. I contemplated calling him myself, just to hear his voice, but I held back.

Why?

I didn't really know, to be perfectly honest. Sure, I wanted to talk to him, but I knew if I got him on the phone I'd want to be next to him right then and my work would be forgotten.

Or maybe it was because I had promised thirty six hours, which was now down to roughly sixteen.

I wasn't counting. Really, I wasn't.

Damn, I was counting. Stupid clock.

The hours ticked by, one less I had to wait.

But with each click of the minute hand, it seemed my nerves grew. Could I really manage to stand up in front of the classroom, knowing what I knew now? Could I look at him and not see him naked? Not see the beauty he'd exposed to me?

Could I hold myself together long enough? Could I not just throw him down in the middle of class, rip of his pants and impale myself on him?

I was a terrible professor, that's for sure.

That wry thought continued to amuse me all day.

Sunday night was just a repeat of Saturday night. The same tossing and turning, but this time my nerves joined the lonely party in my bed. My stomach lurched all night and there were a few tense moments where I thought I might actually throw up.

I managed to keep it together, somehow.

Monday morning dawned and I trembled through my shower. Through getting dressed and doing my hair.

All the way to the doorway of my classroom.

I stood there in front of the door, listening to the clamor behind the door.

He was in there, I knew it. He had to be. He was waiting for me. I couldn't wait to see him. To see if he really looked the same. If he had that same glint in his eye and if he still wanted me almost two days later.

Because goodness knows I still wanted him.

By this point it was almost primal for me. I had gone too long without the taste of him on my tongue. Without the smell of him filling my senses.

I needed him again.

I needed all of him again.

Damn him for being so irresistible. Damn him to hell.

After a few more calming breaths I turned the handle to the door and walked in.

Everybody was already there and waiting for me. I slowly walked my stack of papers over to the table and set them down. I shuffled them around a few times, building up the courage to look up.

I can do this. He's just Edward. He's just a student when we're in here, I thought. Anywhere else he can be sexy and seductive and hot as hell, but in here he's just a simple student who happens to be fricken' brilliant.

I finally looked up and instantly my eyes locked with his. It was like the other students weren't even there. It was just him and me.

I fought to control my breathing and the pounding in my head. My notes looked like a jumbled mess and I could barely make them out through the haze of my thoughts.

My voice was painfully unsteady as I talked about the importance of metaphors in The Heart of Darkness and exactly what Conrad was trying to allude to with the jungle. I sounded unconvincing even to myself. A few snickers sounded here and there, signaling that even my students caught that I wasn't completely up to par either.

Damn him. He was distracting me.

I looked up again and my heart just about stopped. I stopped midsentence and stuttered.

Edward's fingers were playing with the top button on his shirt. He was biting his lip and his eyes were alight with something. Passion. Desire.

Shit.

Did he understand what he was doing to me?

He nodded his head just a bit.

Oh, he understood perfectly.

The cheeky bastard Edward was back. He was playing me. Trying to get me to come unglued in front of my class.

I swallowed the uncomfortable lump that had formed in my throat and averted my eyes. God, I even swept them back and forth across the front row of students. Annoying Tanya was there of course, snapping her gum and watching the sideshow I was putting on. She was probably enjoying my discomfort.

After all, she liked to make professors cry.

And at that moment, I certainly felt like crying. I wanted him so bad. My body ached to be next him, to feel his fingers running along my skin and to just simply consume him.

Another ten minutes went by and I managed to keep my eyes off of Edward.

But then I looked at him again.

He had three buttons undone.

Dammit.

Three damn buttons.

I could see his chest peaking out from between the fabric and I stopped midsentence again.

No, I could do this.

In class, he's a student.

In bed he can be Mr. Sexy Times. In here he was Edward Cullen, Professor Swan's student. He wasn't a sex god.

He undid another button.

Aw, fuck. He was a sex god everywhere. Edward never stopped being a sex god. It was his nature apparently. Just like it was in my nature to give in to him. To allow myself to be consumed by my thoughts of him.

Class was long. Very long.

By the time I was done probably butchering everything I planned on saying, he had five buttons undone.

How did nobody notice? I'm not really sure. Perhaps they were too preoccupied watching the shitshow known as Professor Swan's Complete Meltdown. That explanation was probably much more likely.

And it was a good show. Forty five minutes into class I had broken out into a cold sweat and I was shuffling back and forth on my feet, trying to keep them behind the podium. I had to grip the sides to keep myself from lunging through the rows of desks to the back of the room.

He was good, that's for sure. But Edward was always good at turning me into a complete and utter pile of mumbling goo. This was no different.

I mumbled the reading assignment for the next class and everybody started to pack up their things. Students started filing out of the room and I stayed where I was.

The risk was still too high. I busied myself with something or other on the papers in front of me. I answered a few questions about the papers they'd just turned in.

No, I wasn't done grading, I said. Yes, I'd probably be done soon.

Then everybody was gone. The room was empty except for me.

And Edward.

He still sat in his desk in the back of the room, legs spread open under the desk. His eyes were trained on me and I felt the intensity of his stare in my very bones.

"Mr. Cullen," I said, attempting and probably failing miserably to keep my voice calm.

"Professor Swan," he answered.

"Don't you have somewhere you need to be?" I wavered again.

"Not at the moment."

We stayed like that, him sitting there and me standing behind the little podium. It was our own little stand off. Who could crack first?

I did, of course.

"Mr. Cullen," I finally said.

"Yes?" he answered, his eyes still boring into me.

"I believe there's a matter I'd like to discuss with you in my office, if you'd follow me," I said.

I couldn't believe I managed to get that all out of my mouth without stuttering like a fool.

Edward smiled coyly at me and stood up. He gathered his few things and slung his messenger bag over his shoulder. His eyes never left mine.

I moved toward the door and he followed me.

The normally short walk to my office was entirely too long suddenly. I could feel his gaze on my back, probably gaping openly at my ass. I put an extra sway into my hips and heard a soft moan from behind me.

Oh yeah, I could play too.

I fumbled with the keys to my office and hoped Edward didn't catch it. He already knew I was flustered, no need to further prove that point.

The door swung open and I motioned for him to go in first. He smoothly breezed past me and I caught a whiff of his smell.

I very nearly came undone right there.

He stopped in the middle of my office and stood with his back to me.

I closed the door and locked it.

I had waited long enough.

* * *

**I also want to promote the Dirty Talking Edward contest again. Details and how to enter can be found in my profile. You know you want to enter ... **


	12. Chapter 12: Primal

**A/N: Surprise! I'm back a day early this week. This is thanks to a canceled class and a very inspiring muse whom I aim to please. **

**Campus Liaisons**

**Chapter 12: Primal**

The lock's soft click hung in the air for a moment and neither of us said anything.

Edward was still facing away from me and I was staring intently at his shoulders. They were wide and proud, and I instantly wanted to run my fingers along the smooth muscle I knew was there.

The silent moment continued.

I wanted to do something, to say something.

But what?

My body was telling me to just attack him. Rip off his clothes and hump him right there on my desk. Morals be damned. Setting be damned. Old, thin university walls be damned.

My mind, on the other hand, was screaming that he was being an annoying, cocky bastard again and needed to be put in his place.

The image of him slowly undoing his buttons in the back of the classroom flashed across my mind again and I felt the tide of arousal in me shift.

God, I wanted him.

The humping didn't seem so bad. Matter of fact, it seemed like the much better option.

We could talk any old time, but now I had him alone with me. In my office. With a locked door. And free time.

Oh, wait. Maybe he had somewhere to be. I hadn't considered that possibility.

"Do you have somewhere you need to be?" I quietly asked, breaking the tense silence.

"Not for another two hours," Edward answered in an equally quiet tone.

Perfect.

Two hours.

What could I do in two hours?

What could we do in two hours?

A lot.

I set my stack of papers down on a little corner table and slid into the chair that students normally used. Edward stood standing and didn't turn around.

Cocky bastard.

"Mr. Cullen, I think there's a few things we should discuss," I said in my most professional sounding voice.

"And those would be what, Professor Swan?" Edward returned and stood motionless.

"First of all, there's the matter of your extremely rude conduct in class today."

Edward slowly pulled the strap of his messenger bag over his head and let it fall to the floor with a dull thud. I moved to the edge of the chair and my legs parted slightly. I couldn't stop my body from moving.

"I don't think it was particularly rude, not after being without any company yesterday," he said.

I huffed indignantly and Edward slowly turned around to look at me.

I watched his every movement, every muscle that twitched and stretched beneath his skin. The strong arms, the sinuous legs, and his stomach that I had learned so well with my tongue such a short while ago.

A low fire began to burn within me, a fire I recognized as one Edward could start with a mere glance in my direction. It smoldered in me, charring me on the edges and desperately looking for that spark to ignite into a full-fledged blaze.

Edward's eyes, so distinctly green and sharp, pierced right through. For the longest time I had felt he could see everything when he looked at me, and now that I knew him better I felt no different.

A whimper left me, uninvited and unwelcome. I could never hide my attraction to him.

But I needed to.

I needed to tell him that playing me like that in the middle of class was not okay. I was a serious professor who wanted a serious job and a serious reputation.

A serious professor who was fucking her seriously hot student.

Oh, yeah. That would fly over real well at my tenure discussions.

If I got that far.

"You can't do that, you know," I said after taking a deep, steadying breath which didn't help much.

"Do what?" Edward asked innocently though I could tell full well he knew exactly 'what.'

"You can't …" I squeaked out before my speaking ability ground to a screeching halt.

Why, you ask?

He took one step towards me. One very large, very sexy step. How could steps be so sexy? Well, hell if I knew, but somehow Edward managed to make steps sexy. Walking. He made simple, ordinary walking sexy.

"Can't what? What can't I do, Professor Swan?" he crooned in his velvet voice.

My breathing picked up and I tried to clear the jumbled mess of my thoughts. I'd been doing what now? Oh yeah, chastising him for flustering me so badly in class.

"You can't distract me in class," I mumbled, my mind still hazy.

"I can't help it if I'm so distracting," Edward chuckled softly.

My eyes narrowed on him and I frowned.

"Yes, you can. The shirt thing," I quipped.

Edward grinned at me, that same knowing grin he always had when he managed to get away with something.

"Oh, right. That," he laughed.

"That."

My breath caught in my throat as he took another step towards me, this time a much larger one. He was so close to me, practically within arm's distance.

My heart was beating so loud in my chest I'm sure he could hear it in the silence of my office. I desperately wished my body wouldn't betray me so easily, but I was never that lucky. My body was so easily swayed by him. It was as if it reacted to him without even being asked to.

I could hear his breathing too and I was shocked that it was just as frantic and uneven as mine. Edward's eyes bored into me and I could see so much behind that special shade of green that was already my favorite color in the entire world.

It almost felt like when he took me home the other night that a wall had been broken down inside him. I had looked into his eyes before, but I had never seen this depth. He hadn't allowed himself to be seen.

Maybe Edward had let me in. Maybe he had granted me entrance to his most secret place: his mind.

Maybe this was something more for him too.

My heart clenched and my mouth fell open in a muted whimper again.

"Bella," Edward whispered and extended his hand towards me.

I reacted without thinking about my movements and my hand came up to find his. The tips of our fingers barely grazed against each other and I felt it.

That spark.

That brilliance.

That something that was pulling us together.

My world was indeed different.

Our fingers knit together and I pressed my palm to his. Edward stood there while I sat, both of us looking at our entwined fingers. It seemed we were both simply in awe of the sight.

"Do you feel that?" he whispered again.

I nodded, too lost in the feel of his skin on mine again. I'd gone nearly 36 hours without touching him that this reunion of sorts was making my brain go completely haywire.

I had really only known Edward for some 48 hours. If that. The moment his lips had grazed my shoulders at the club a few short nights ago, I'd been lost to him. I'd given everything over and surrendered my free will.

There had always been that instinctive pull towards him. From the moment I had set my eyes on him. There was always that urge to take him into me, to consume him and be consumed by him.

And by now there was definitely no stopping it.

I simply couldn't withdraw at this point. I was in over my head.

Once the connection was made, it was unbreakable. A part of me knew that if I would ever have to go without him again that something in me would shatter. I would be left without my base, my being.

But how could I feel this so suddenly?

My universe was playing tricks on me again. Throwing this perfect person at me. A perfect person I could no longer go without from now on.

Was this … love?

Love.

The word hit my brain and my stomach dropped out.

Love.

Love.

Edward.

Love.

Yes.

No.

Edward.

Love.

Could I?

"Bella," Edward's soft voice brought me out of my confused thoughts and I looked up at him to see those same soft tears I'd seen in my kitchen.

"I'm here," I replied, not knowing exactly what to say.

Edward pulled up out of the chair suddenly and his arms locked around me. I was enveloped into his body, and his scent filled my head. He smelled like clean, soap, outdoors and everything. That distinctly manly smell that always managed to drive me crazy.

I melted into his body and clung to him like a drowning woman. My hands clawed at his shirt and I wanted nothing more than to rip it off him. To see what I had seen before. Those defined abs. That gentle V of his hip bones.

Edward was doing the same to me and holding me tightly against him. Almost like he thought he would lose me.

Well, I wasn't going anywhere. I couldn't go anywhere.

Whatever pull I had to him prevented that.

Edward's lips were on me, over me, consuming me. He pressed them hard against my lips, practically sucking on them. I returned his kiss with as much passion as I could muster. I hadn't yet decided if I _loved_ him, but I could still definitely show him how much passion I had for him.

It was deep. Carnal. Primal. Passionate.

It was everything I had never had but always wished for. It was everything I had always read about in all my books. That desperate need to be with someone no matter what was going on around you.

A force of nature.

Edward kissed up my jaw to my ear and sucked on the skin there, causing me to moan out.

"I'm sorry, Bella," Edward gasped. His hands slid down my back and over the curve of my ass. They kneaded me there and Edward ground himself into me.

I could feel his arousal through our clothing and the idea that he was as turned on as I was sent waves of arousal through me.

I wanted him. I needed him.

I had been without.

"Please don't do that in class again," I managed to groan out. "I need to be professional."

"Anything," Edward moaned and took my earlobe into his mouth.

I could feel myself unraveling, coming apart at the seams in his arms. And yet I felt so comfortable. Like I had always been there. Like I was always supposed to be there.

_Love_.

The tiny voice in the back of my head refused to go away and its voice was getting louder by the minute. I had recognized what I had refused to for days and now there was no turning back. No turning away.

I pressed myself into his body and earned a throaty moan from Edward. I felt the vibrations against my skin and it shook me to my very core. My bones seemed to liquefy and I was suddenly very unsteady on my feet.

Edward seemed to realize this as well and his arms snaked around my waist, lifting me up into him. My legs locked around his waist and this brought my center closer to him.

I wanted him.

Right here. In my office.

"Please," I whimpered. My pathetic voice shocked me; it was thick with need and desire.

"What do you want? I'll give you anything," he whispered into my neck.

"Now," I whimpered again. I couldn't get out what I really wanted: him. I wanted to see him, taste him, touch him, fuck him.

"Anything," he echoed and moved us over towards my desk. It was relatively clear and I thanked my lucky stars for that.

I didn't want to have to sort through stacks of papers hastily thrown onto the floor in fit of passion.

Edward set me down on the edge and leaned into me, kissing me. The room was starting to spin and I knew it wouldn't be long before I lost it.

My arousal was already beginning to seep through my panties and I could practically smell myself. I had been on edge for so long, too long really. From the moment my eyes had locked with his when I walked into class up until this moment it had been growing and surging.

We wouldn't need to fool around much. There wasn't a need for any fingers or hands or mouths. I just needed him. I needed him in me.

Edward's hands fumbled for the button on my pants and I put my hands over his to settle him. Our lips never lost touch as I managed to guide him in undoing first the button and then the zipper. I braced myself on my arms and lifted my hips up so he could slide my pants down my legs.

They were on the floor in an instant and Edward's smooth hands were running up my legs. His touch left fire in his path. Our tongues were battling, each looking for dominance over the other.

We were practically eating each other. It was deep and primal. Animalistic. We were in a rush and any moment between now and when he was in me was too long.

I had gone so far in such a short amount of time. It wasn't too long ago that I had agreed to a night of drinking, only to have my entire world turned upside down. For so long I had been the driven, bookish student and now I was just driven.

I was driven to be with him. Driven to be around him. Driven to be next to him.

And it seemed Edward wanted that with me just as much. His body was telling me as much.

His fingers hooked in the elastic of my panties and he dragged them down my legs. The cool air of my office hit my overheated center and I moaned quietly. My desk was cold and hard beneath me, and my skin was quickly becoming much hotter.

I lunged for his belt and undid it with shaky hands. I had been so able to undo my own pants just a moment earlier, but now undoing his seemed like such a battle.

It was his turn to cover my hand and guide me, something I was thankful for. I needed his pants off. We needed his pants off.

Once they were undone Edward's hands returned to my waist and I snaked my fingers into the waistband of both his pants and his boxers. I tugged them down just far enough to release him from his confines.

He was big and proud for me, already fully aroused.

I ran my fingers along the length lightly and Edward gasped into my neck where he was kissing. I took him into my hands and squeezed just hard enough so he'd feel me, feel that I needed him soon or I would explode.

"Bella," he groaned and thrust his hips into my hand.

I did it again and he moaned loudly, deep and throaty. It was the most beautiful sound in the world. I wanted to hear it over and over, never stopping.

"I … don't … have a condom," Edward said, his voice quivering with need.

"Birth control," I shook out and squeezed again.

"Fuck," he groaned and thrust into my hand once more. "You sure?"

I nodded, quickly losing whatever coherence remained.

I pulled him towards me, leading him. His hands slid down my thighs to my knees and spread my legs open, before sliding back up to cup my ass.

He pulled me forward just as I pulled him closer and his tip brushed up against my heat.

We both moaned at the feeling and I was lost.

There was so much I wanted to say, so much I wanted to feel, so much I wanted to do. That image of us on the swings as the two children played in the yard flashed across my mind again and it was my undoing.

I let go of him and allowed him to take over. My hands went to his shoulders, anchoring myself to what I felt would remain the most stable on him. Edward slid himself around my entrance, gathering my wetness as he went.

"God, Bella," he said as his body shuddered and I felt the vibration under my fingertips, even though the fabric of his shirt.

"Please," I whimpered.

He pressed one more kiss into the hollow below my ear as he thrust into me. He settled between my legs, holding still for a moment.

It was a glorious feeling. Being full. Being centered. Being there in this moment with him. It always was so much more than sex for us so far; it was truly a joining of souls.

Even this hot, impromptu, rushed, haphazard office sex was that.

This thought was running through my head until he started to move.

Then all thought erased except how amazing he was making me feel.

My body needed him. My mind needed him.

And he delivered.

Our breathy whimpers soon turned to moans as he picked up his pace. I clung to him, desperate for my anchor. I could hear his skin slapping against my thighs.

My coil, already wound from all the stress of the past two days, was winding impossibly tight again. It wouldn't take much for him to set me off.

I just hoped I could bring him there with me.

I wanted to experience my climax with him. I wanted to bring him as much pleasure as he was bringing me.

We were both beyond words, too lost to sensation and touch to say anything.

I could make out a few stilted groans of my name and I was surprised to hear his name echoed back from my lips.

Edward gripped my hips hard and tilted me. This caused him to hit at a new angle, just the right angle.

I cried out from the feeling and knew I was almost there.

"Bella," Edward groaned and I started to feel his body contracting under my touch.

One last thrust of his sent me flying. I clenched around him and was gone. It must have pushed him over too because he twitched and stilled for a moment before thrusting again.

This peak was different than the others I'd had with Edward so far. It was filled with so much more emotion, so much more feeling that I knew it could only be love.

We were saying it without saying it, just as we'd done on the phone.

The words didn't mean anything when our bodies could say it for us.

_Love_.

I was feeling him love me.

As I slowly came back to myself, Edward continued kissing my neck, whispering things I couldn't yet comprehend into my skin. His breath was hot against me and I could feel his hands rubbing circles into the skin at my hips.

It was simply delicious.

It was hot and steamy, while still being sweet and romantic.

"Bella," he whispered and smoothed my hair from my forehead. I couldn't stop the tears that came to my eyes from his simple gesture.

"Edward," I whispered back.

"I promise to be good," he said and pulled his head back to look at me.

His eyes sparkled and yet still asked for forgiveness.

"Thank you," I replied and pushed his hair from his eyes.

He smiled at me, the wide dopey smile this time that made him look so much younger.

"Can I put my pants back on now?" I laughed.

"Well, only if you don't want more," he grinned.

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Well, of course I would like more, but you have somewhere to be and I need to do some work before afternoon conferences," I said.

He grinned at me again, but this time it didn't reach his eyes.

"Tonight?" he asked with breathy anticipation.

I smiled and said, "I couldn't sleep last night. I'm beginning to think I'm addicted to you."

Edward chuckled and reached down to pull up his pants.

I slipped down off my desk and found my underwear and my own pants.

Edward was buckling his belt as I had my hand on my button when a knock came at the door.

We both froze and our eyes locked. I could see the sheer panic and desperation in his and I'm sure that and all that much more was reflected back in mine.

"Bella," he whispered.

My mouth fell open to tell him to do something when the knock came again.

"Professor?" a whiny, nasally voice came from behind the door.

The pit of my stomach dropped out and the taste of desperate panic rose in my throat.

There was only one person that voice could belong to.

"No," Edward choked out, his complexion paling.

Another knock, this time more insistent.

My hands started to shake.

I was so screwed.


	13. Chapter 13: Phone Call

**A/N: You, my lovely readers, get another chapter a day early! You are very lucky indeed. I feel like two weeks in a row and I'm starting to spoil you all. **

**For my special muse, without whom I wouldn't be so incredibly inspired every day of my life. Looking forward to your masterpiece … **

**Campus Liaisons**

**Chapter 13: Phone Call**

I stood there, gaping at Edward. I wanted to know what to do. I had absolutely no idea.

Should I open the door and let "She who shall not be named" in to see us in various states of unkempt? Or pretend I didn't hear? Or pretend I'm not even in the damn office?

Precious seconds were ticking by and I knew I needed to make a decision.

I couldn't stand here on the edge of the rest of my life for too much longer.

Edward moved so he wouldn't be seen if I opened the door, flattening himself up against one of the walls opposite of the open door.

"I'm not here, Bella. Don't let her in!" he whispered.

I nodded, still frantically trying to scrap together a plan.

"Just answer it!" he hissed again.

I moved towards the door and tried to smooth my probably wild sex hair. Geeze, I probably reeked of sex too. Oh yeah, Tanya's definitely not coming in this office.

I smoothed my shirt as best I could manage and put on my best "Is there something I can help you with?" face.

Not like it would matter. I was a terrible actress. Always had been, always will be.

I stole one last look at Edward and he smiled his encouragement at me. It was just enough to push me past the last hurdle and convince me I could do this.

Gripping the door handle, I leaned in close.

"Um, yes?" I croaked just loud enough to be heard on the other side.

"Professor, I gotta talk to you about something," Tanya's shrill voice said.

I cringed automatically and my stomach sank. Maybe it wouldn't be so easy to get rid of her. I would have to try my best though.

"Well, Tanya. I'm … uh … actually," I paused, trying to come up with some good excuse. "I'm not feeling well right now so I think I'm going to cancel office hours today."

"It's really important!" she whined and my blood seemed to curdle.

"Can it possibly wait?" I pleaded, trying not to sound as desperate as I was feeling.

I heard Tanya huff loudly and I could only imagine the annoyed look she had. I had to cover my mouth with my hand to stifle the giggles.

"Fine! What's my problem compared to your stupid stomach … it's just my grade," she grumbled, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

"I'll talk to you in class, Tanya," I responded and purposefully chose to ignore her last comment.

Hearing the click of her shoes as she walked away, I finally released a breath I didn't realize I had been holding.

Edward's strong arms encircled me from behind and he nuzzled his nose into my neck. I leaned my head back into his shoulder and began to feel the familiar stirrings of desire that always seemed to follow him.

"That was a relief," he mumbled into my neck.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Probably not the best thing to be caught post-coital with my student by another student."

His arms stiffened and he stopped his movements.

"Um," he mumbled.

Um what?

What did that mean?

I turned around his arms, reluctantly I might add considering his hot breath on my neck. Edward refused to meet my eyes and bit the side of his lip gently.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said quietly.

"Doesn't seem like nothing to me," I pouted and went to take a step back.

If he wouldn't tell me what was going on, then I would just have to figure out how to break him. I wanted him to talk to me. I wanted him to be able to tell me everything.

And more importantly, I wanted to tell him everything.

There was something already that made me want to be with him. I was obviously risking everything and I wanted to do that risk justice.

But right now, I just wanted to know what was going on.

"What?" I said, a little most insistent.

Edward leaned back into me, and I couldn't move back this time. His scent wrapped around me, luring me to him. I would have been more upset that I was unable to resist him except for the fact that his lips had found their way to my neck and were starting to suck on me ever so delicately.

"What?" I croaked again, but this time there wasn't as much force behind it.

"You smell like sex," Edward mumbled against me before inhaling deeply. "Sex and freesia and strawberries and everything."

What was I trying to do again?

Aw, hell. Whatever it was could wait.

My hands came up to clutch him to me, and I could feel his muscles beneath his shirt with my fingers. They clenched and unclenched under my touch and my knees went a little weak.

Edward brought one hand up to cup my neck and I turned my head to give him better access. I wanted him all over my skin, enveloping me. Taking me.

I couldn't get enough of him. I never could.

There was no going back from this, I realized.

What we were doing was definitely happening and nothing was going to stop it.

I wanted to be with him.

I wanted him there when I went to sleep and when I woke up.

I would fight for him.

"Bella," he breathed into me and I forgot everything I was thinking.

He brought his other arm around me and pulled me in against his body. I could feel his hardness already through his pants against my stomach and wetness began to pool in my underwear again.

This power he had over me was pretty damn strong.

This lure was amazing.

I'd never had this with anybody before.

Was this what it felt like to find that person who was made for you?

I pondered that for a split second before I felt Edward's lips on the shell of my ear, placing soft kisses along it.

"Are you feeling well enough for tonight still?" he whispered and the sound of his velvety voice rang through me, only spurning on my arousal.

"I'm feeling quite fine actually," I squeaked out.

He chuckled softly and I even felt his smile on me.

"That's very good because I liked your bed. Very big and soft and it smells like you," he laughed.

I pulled my face away from his touch and put on my best alluring smile.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" I grinned.

"A very good question indeed," he cooed and moved away to grab his bag he'd dropped when we'd first come in my office.

I quickly collected whatever material I thought I would need for the night, even though I knew I would probably not get to any of it. The prospect of doing work over doing Edward was almost laughable.

Hot guy or boring paperwork?

_Oh, tough choices, Bella. _

I had a quick laugh to myself before Edward caught me actually contemplating the possibility of paperwork.

Edward slipped out of my office before I did, just in case anybody was around. A let a minute or so pass before I ducked out behind him, locking my door with my keys as I left.

As I made my way out of the red brick building though, I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.

But this time I knew it wasn't Edward watching me as I could see him about 300 feet in front of me, walking along the sidewalk.

I shivered and pulled an arm around my chest.

Maybe it was just starting to get cold.

XXXXX

We'd barely made it in my house when Edward's arms wrapped around me and pushed me up against the closest wall. Our lips crashed together violently and I brought one leg up to wrap around his waist, pulling him tighter against me.

He ground his center into mine, making me break our kiss by my head falling back into the hard wall.

Any other time I would have cried out in pain, but instead this time I cried out in pleasure.

"Bella," he breathed again into me, reminding me of in my office.

The way he said my name was beautiful. Reverent. Worshiping.

Like he was using it as religious chant.

Praying to me almost.

"How do you do that?" I asked breathlessly.

"How do I do what?" he asked as he ran his nose along my jaw.

My head rolled to the side as he began placing soft kisses along the length of my neck.

Edward pressed his body into me and I could once against feel his hardness through his pants. Damn, I could never forget that thing really.

It was always there. Always tempting me.

Even the briefest memory of how good he'd made me feel with it set me off and I ground myself back into him.

He groaned into my neck and I clenched my leg around him.

"How do I do what?" he asked again, his voice somewhat unsteady.

"How do you always manage to know exactly the right thing to say? How do you know the secrets of my body when I don't even know them?" I said, rather proud of myself that I could still formulate full sentences.

He pulled his head from my neck and grinned at me. His green eyes twinkled and I caught the edges of them trying to say that _thing_ again. That thing that we were saying with our bodies and not with our words still.

Maybe he would say it eventually.

Maybe I would say it eventually.

We obviously both felt it.

That connection. That need. That urge. That click of something right.

But the million dollar question was when would we _really_ say it. When would the words come out of our mouth and make it real, not just some figment of my imagination.

"Because I feel like I've known you all my life," Edward said then.

My heart clenched and I couldn't stop the tears from forming in my eyes.

A muffled half sob escaped my throat and Edward's smile fell.

"Too much?" he quietly asked, shame filling his eyes.

"No," I quickly said. "Just right."

His smile returned and his eyes were alight with new passion.

He attacked my lips with renewed fervor and my arms wrapped around him. His tongue darted out and traced my lower lip, as if seeking admittance to my mouth. I savored the feel of it just long enough before I could no longer resist and permitted him entrance.

His taste filled my mouth along with his tongue. Sweet and wonderful. Savory and beautiful.

Everything in perfect balance.

Everything that made turned me on.

Everything that made me ready for him.

I briefly wondered how many condoms were in the spare box Rosalie insisted I keep under my bathroom sink when I heard the most annoying sound in the world.

Well, second most annoying after Tanya's voice interrupting our office tryst this afternoon.

My phone ringing.

Damn thing. Always interrupting.

I undid my arms from around Edward's torso to answer it, even though my body was screaming at me to ignore whoever happened to pick the wrong moment to talk to me.

"Ignore it," Edward whispered against my lips.

"What if it's someone important?" I stuttered.

"They can leave a message," he said and placed another soul-searing kiss on me. My insides melted and my brain lost all ability to think about anything other than the feel of his body against mine and his delicious scent when he did that.

The sound of the phone fell away and I put the call out of my mind.

Edward was right. If it was someone important they would leave a message.

I could call them back when I had time.

Edward ground himself into me, and a loud moan escaped my lips.

Oh, who's joking. I wasn't going to have time if I had my way. I intended to spend the entire night making up for the lost time I had woefully give up in favor of grading papers.

"Good girl," he mumbled and began sucking on the juncture of my neck and shoulders. "Right where I want you."

I couldn't wait to get to my bedroom.

My damn big, soft bed that smelled like me would have to wait until later.

I wanted him now.

My body was screaming at me, demanding I attend to my needs. The dull ache was quickly turning into a full-fledged throb and I was in desperate need of some friction to relieve the pressure.

I pushed against him and we stumbled around the furniture. I guided Edward to my couch and pulled him down on top of me.

I felt like a horny teenager all of a sudden, groping my hot boyfriend while a piss poor excuse of a movie played on the unwatched television.

Except without the movie.

And I wasn't a teenager.

What I did have though was the hot boyfriend.

Wait.

Edward.

Boyfriend.

Relationship.

Oh yeah, I'd agreed to this tacitly.

I forgot about waxing poetic about whatever relationship Edward and I had or didn't have the moment I felt him begin to pull my shirt off over my head.

And then my phone beeped again.

Voicemail this time.

Fucking phone.

My head snapped in its direction and we both froze.

Someone important had indeed left me a message. Which could only mean one thing: I really needed to check my message, even if it meant temporarily stopping the amazing make out session I was currently involved in.

"You should get that," Edward sighed and pulled away.

Stupid phone.

Always interrupting the best moments.

I sighed right along with him and moved to get my phone.

I fished my phone out of my bag and dialed the number for voicemail. After putting in my password I held the phone up to my ear.

The voice of the Dean's secretary sounded in my ear.

"Bella? Dean Johnson would like to have a talk with you about some matters tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. If I don't hear from you before then, he'll see you at that time."

The pit of my stomach immediately dropped out.

Oh, fuck.

I had a feeling this meeting was not going to be about how to run final exams as a new professor.

I wasn't just screwed.

I was fucked. Grade A, first class, 'goodbye steady income' fucked.

I numbly ended the call and placed my phone on the nearest horizontal surface.

My back was to Edward on the couch and I stood there, frozen in my spot.

A frantic sob escaped my throat and my knees began to buckle.

The consequences I had predicted so easily were finally rearing their ugly head. Everything was going to crash down upon me.

I was going to lose my job. I was going to be the laughing stock of the campus. Hell, I would probably go down in infamy as the idiot first year professor who ruined a good deal by getting drunk and getting laid.

It was too good to be real all along. It had felt so wrong at the time and I should have listened. I should have known better. I should have been stronger. I should have resisted, no matter how hard it was. No matter how tempting Edward was, I should have been strong enough to give into the idea of sleeping with my student regardless of how old he was.

But I wasn't that strong. I never had been. I'd put up a valiant effort to resist, but the effort had been in vain.

There was no resisting Edward's pull. My universe had shifted that day, pushing me with everything it had to his arms. To his side.

It was all too much for me.

Several things happened at once and I felt the floor underneath my knees as I sank down. Edward's arms wrapped around me, pulling me tightly against him.

I couldn't stop the tears that flowed freely from my eyes and couldn't stifle the eventual sobs either.

Edward just held me while I cried and sobbed.

It just wasn't fair.

I had finally made the decision that I wanted to be with him no matter what and then … it had happened. My choice had met me head long in the night and confronted me.

Consequences.

There would be consequences.

I was only aware that I was babbling incoherently when I felt Edward's fingers wiping my tears away and his soothing voice lulling me into submission.

"What's wrong, Bella? Tell me," he cooed.

"I ... uh … call … Dean … shit … meeting," I babbled.

He brushed his lips against mine and my frantic breathing began to slow.

"I can't make this better unless you make more sense," he whispered soothingly.

I sucked in the biggest gulp of air I could manage and forced myself to calm down.

My fingers curled into Edward's hair and I brushed through his unruly locks. There was something so soothing, so steadying about this simple act that I was finally able to believe I could be somewhat coherent.

I took another deep breath before I spit everything out. I knew that saying it aloud would make it real and I wanted another moment before I had to face everything head on.

"The Dean wants to talk to me tomorrow. I don't know exactly what about, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what," I said as calmly as I could manage.

Edward's eyes reflected what could only be remorse and my stomach twisted.

"What do you think he wants to talk about?" he finally said after a moment.

"This. Us."

"Oh. That."

We were both quiet and just sat there, taking in the enormity of the moment.

"God, I'm such an idiot. My dumb decision," I half laughed.

"Bella," Edward sighed. "It wasn't just your decision."

"I know, but let me feel like an idiot just for awhile here. Because after tomorrow I'm going to be an idiot without a job."

My dry attempt at humor didn't even amuse me. The pathetic irony of the situation had yet to really be funny.

It was still firmly entrenched in terrifying for me.

"Bella," Edward mumbled.

"What?" I asked.

Edward brought his head up and his eyes locked with mine. The deepest green.

I could get lost in those eyes.

I was almost so lost that I didn't hear his next words.

"Bella, when's the last time you checked your class roster?"


	14. Chapter 14: Answers

**A/N: Sorry for the two week lapse between the last chapter and this one. School has been crazy hectic and it's only going to get worse with finals approaching. That being said, don't be surprised if there is another big lapse until the next chapter. **

**Once again, this is for my wonderfully amazing muse who I cannot get through the day without. **

**Campus Liaisons**

**Chapter 14: Answers**

"_Bella, when's the last time you checked your class roster?"_

I stood up from Edward's arms and stared at Edward.

Roster?

What did that have anything to do with seeing the Dean?

"Um, what?" I asked, trying to figure out what he was getting at.

"Your roster. With all the names. When's the last time you checked it?" Edward said pointedly.

I riffled through my memory, searching for the moment Edward was asking for.

"Well, I got one before classes started. And then I had you all write your names down on the first day of class," I finally said and bit my lip.

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, mussing it up into oblivion.

"Shit," he groaned.

"What? Edward, what's going on?" I asked and put my hand on my hip.

"This is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be."

My eyes narrowed on him. He was being evasive. Not answering my real question, but instead answering his own. I wanted to know what was going on. I wanted to know what all his sly, vague questions and answers were leading to.

It was something big. Something that would change everything.

And I was damned if I was going to let him walk away this time.

I wanted answers.

Direct and straightforward answers.

Here we were in this whatever we were in and he couldn't give me a straight answer to a simple question. How could he honestly expect me to trust him if he kept doing this?

I took a step back from him and crossed my arms over my chest.

Answers.

Remember, hold firm. You want answers.

"What the hell is going on, Edward?" I asked with a firm edge to my voice.

"Bella," he sighed.

"No, Edward. Don't try to 'Bella' your way out of this one. Don't tease me. Don't distract me. I want answers this time. All you've ever done is trick me into forgetting important stuff. To get your way. To get me to accept your paper. To get me to go home with you. To make me let this go. But not now. This is too big. You're going to tell me or you're going to leave."

The green of Edward's eyes shifted into something different. He went from being frustrated to being … almost sad. Like I'd said something wrong.

My heart clenched at the idea of him being sad, but my mind screamed at me that he was just doing it again. Trying to get me to let this issue be. Back off the topic.

And I couldn't do that.

Not anymore.

Not when it seemed he held a secret that could very well be key to whatever the Dean wanted to talk to me about. I had a sneaking suspicion that Edward was indeed holding something vitally important back that I needed.

"Bella."

His voice was soft, pained.

"I can't do this. I didn't want you to find out like this," he breathed.

"Do what? Find out what like what?" I echoed his pain.

He sighed deeply and ran his hand through his hair again. My eyes darted to the untidy locks for a split second, my resolve wavering if but for a moment.

No, strong. Bella, be strong. Fight him.

You need this.

"There's just some things you need to figure out on your own," he said and took one step towards the door.

"Edward," I squeaked and reached out for him.

His face was betraying his thoughts. He was torn, that I could see. Torn between staying and giving me what I want and doing things his way. Whatever this 'thing' was.

"Don't, Bella," he said quietly and turned his back on me.

Tears flooded my eyes and I wanted nothing more than to pull him back towards me.

How had our day turned into this? I had started out wrapped so tightly, anxious to see him. He'd wound me even tighter in class, toying and playing with my control. We'd had hot, passionate sex in my office. I'd been so close to finally saying what I'd been refusing to let out for so long, what I'd refused to even acknowledge myself.

That I loved him.

That I needed him.

That I wanted to be with him forever.

That I would fight for him.

How had we ended up here?

Separated by only a few long strides, pained and apart, in my living room. What curse had befallen me in such a short amount of time?

I had finally realized I would throw everything away for him, only to be confronted with the possibility that I very well would have to. That tomorrow would bring monumental changes bigger than any I'd ever faced.

Walking in my classroom the first day had been nothing compared to what stood before me tomorrow.

Walking into the Dean's office knowing I was sleeping with one of my students was much worse.

Infinitely worse.

And the repercussions would be severe if this was indeed what the Dean wanted to talk to me about.

"Please," I whispered.

"I think I should go," Edward said after a moment.

"Don't."

My voice wavered, painfully unsteady, reflecting my emotional state.

This wasn't what I needed. I didn't need him gone. I needed him here.

With me.

Comforting me.

Wrapping his strong arms around me and telling me everything was going to be alright. That things would work out no matter what.

Kissing me.

Loving me.

Letting me love him back.

Edward moved toward the door and my body was frozen in its spot, unable to make any move to stop him.

This was what he wanted. He wanted to leave.

Or was it that I was forcing him to leave. I had asked him to either tell me or get out.

And he had made his decision.

His hand gripped the doorknob and he paused. Maybe he was reconsidering. Maybe he wouldn't leave after all.

"Bella, promise me you'll check your class roster before your meeting tomorrow," he said quietly, almost to quiet for me to hear.

"Edward," I whimpered.

"Promise me, Bella."

I sucked in a deep breath and did the only thing I could.

I promised.

"Okay."

His shoulders slumped forward and he turned the knob the rest of the way. The door swung open and with barely a flicker of an eyelid, he was gone. Into the quickly descending night.

My heavy front door swung shut behind him and silence gripped my house.

Not laughter.

Not Edward's voice.

Silence.

We should have been moaning each other's names into the black of night, but here I was instead. Left alone in my house after probably the most painful fight, I guess it was, of my life.

I wanted to run after him. To pull him back into my house and apologize for everything. To make that pained look he'd had on his face go away. To make him happy.

To forgive him for whatever he was holding back.

How easily I had forgiven him.

I had the willpower of an ant. One look from him and I was a goner.

He'd always had this power over me, even from the beginning.

From that disastrous night in the bar that had set a course of events for my life I'd never intended to travel down. That night had changed everything for me.

Would things have been different if I'd never agreed to go out drinking? If Rose and I hadn't done those tequila shots? If I hadn't dropped my panties for the first hot thing to come along and sweep me off my feet that night?

Maybe.

But more than likely, no.

I still would have felt that undeniable attraction to Edward. Whether it started in the bar or in my classroom that first day. It wouldn't have mattered.

We still would have ended up here.

Me. Alone. Waiting for perhaps the most important meeting of my entire life.

I couldn't sleep that night. I tossed and turned, my mind filling with all kinds of different scenarios of what Edward could possibly mean, each more horrible than the last.

I had become accustomed to sleeping next to his warm body. And he wasn't there.

We had been apart at night the past several nights.

And this was the most painful of all of them.

All I wanted to do was cry at his absence. It was tonight of all nights that I felt it the worst. It was tonight that I wanted him next to me more than all others.

Because without him I felt weak. That I couldn't do this alone.

I didn't like that feeling.

I had been independent for so long, so able to care for myself without anyone's help that this newfound dependence on him scared me.

Maybe this was what being in love felt like.

Maybe it was feeling like you belonged to someone and that without them you were incomplete. That you needed them to fix everything, even if you could do it yourself.

And Edward had said he would fix everything. But instead he had only made everything more broken.

When the door had swung shut behind him, he had walked out with a little piece of my soul.

With him not there I was incomplete.

Morning dawned slowly, creeping in my curtains like an unwelcome visitor. I probably looked like shit, considering I'd only really slept maybe a total of 30 minutes that night.

I showered and dressed with careful patience. I made myself look as professional as I could, trying to convey the serious professor aura I was trying to project. If I couldn't be a serious professor, at least I could look like one.

My hands kept shaking terribly, betraying my nerves to anyone who would look at me. I paced back and forth in my living room before finally giving up and stalking to the English building at noon.

Of course it was my luck that the Dean picked a day I didn't have office hours.

My office was left in a tizzy after our impromptu desk sex yesterday. I straightened it up as best I could with shaking hands, pausing over a stack of papers.

My roster.

My old roster.

I'd made my promise.

Now where would I find my answer?

I thought about my options for a minute. There was no way to get what I needed without alerting suspicion to myself.

Or was there?

Old roster.

Wait.

Didn't a few students drop my class?

And I'd never received a new one. Well, at least I didn't think I had. I would have received it in my staff mailbox. The English department was horribly behind in technology and still was using paper mailboxes to send messages between professors and to other departments.

I laughed at the idea.

Maybe my mailbox held the key all along.

I slipped from my office and down the hall to the staff room. There was nobody else in there when I entered and I quickly shimmied over to my mail slot. As a new professor, I was the lowest of the low on the department totem pole. My slot was in the lowest row, all way in the corner. It was barely big enough to slip more than a dozen sheets of paper in at a time.

I squatted down and pressed my face flat against the floor, trying to get a better look inside.

There was a random university magazine that got sent to all staff members. No help there. And a notice the water was going to be off in the building next Friday. Also no help.

But there at the back of my mailbox was a sheet of paper that had been pushed backwards against the wall. It was so far back I hadn't seen it or been able to reach it with just a casual check.

I reached in deep, my arm almost elbow deep into the tight space, and withdrew the wrinkled sheet of paper.

I smoothed it out on the floor, squatting back on my heels.

_Roster for English 201with Isabella Swan  
_

Oh god.

There it was.

The missing document that changed everything.

My fingers scanned down the list of names, seeing mostly the same people.

But in the spot I expected to see Edward's name, smashed between the previous and the next student, his name was missing.

I fell back from my heels onto my butt, my legs splaying out in front of me.

What?

I searched for the date of the roster, convinced that there was some kind of mistake.

It was dated three days after my first class.

Edward was no longer in my class as of the second class meeting.

He had dropped it.

What.

The.

Hell.

And then it all hit me with a force to rival a runaway semi. All air left my lungs and I frantically gasped into the quiet of the workroom.

Edward wasn't my student.

I wasn't his professor.

I wasn't sleeping with my student.

He wasn't fucking his professor.

Oh god.

I started to hyperventilate at the revelation.

This was what he was withholding from me the entire time. This was what changed everything.

We were doing nothing wrong.

For the second time in so many months, my entire world tilted on its side and everything changed in an instant.

I was free to be with him however I wanted. There was nothing wrong with dating someone who wasn't your student. There was nothing wrong with being in a relationship with someone who wasn't your student.

And there was certainly nothing wrong with loving someone who wasn't your student.

Yes.

We could do this.

I could do this.

The grin that broke across my face was wider than any I had ever given. My lips stretched almost painfully across my teeth and I felt like the biggest weight ever had lifted off my shoulders.

I could survive this. The Dean could find nothing wrong with our relationship now, if that's indeed what he wanted to talk to me about.

My heart leapt into my throat and I jumped off the floor in a fit of joy. I did a victory dance around the small room, my heels clicking and tapping on the vinyl. Anybody who would have seen me would have sworn I had lost whatever last bit of my sanity remained, but I didn't care.

Nothing mattered now except that Edward and I were free to be together.

My world could be right again.

I flew from the room in a fit of excitement and towards the Dean's office. I didn't care that I still had almost an hour before my meeting. I wanted to have it now. I wanted to get all of this out of the way and in the clear.

Because as soon as it was over I would run to Edward and we could be together.

And this time I wouldn't take no for an answer when I asked him about dropping my class. I had found what he had asked me to find. Now it was his turn to give me answers.

I wanted to know why he still came to my class even after he was no longer enrolled. Why he persisted in doing all the now pointless assignments. Writing the journals, the papers if the grades I gave him wouldn't count.

The dean's secretary was shocked to see me so early when I ran in.

"Bella, dear! Good to see you! You do know your meeting isn't for another hour, right?" she said with wide eyes.

"I know, I just thought I'd come by early and see if I could meet with Dean Johnson now," I almost yelled in excitement.

Her eyes shifted to the piece of paper in my hand and I didn't miss her confusion.

Whatever.

Edward wasn't my student.

"Well, he is free at the moment. Let me see if he's willing to meet with you now," she smiled at me.

I was practically jumping up and down in the small waiting area while she walked around the corner into his office.

It felt like an eternity before she came back, her bifocal frames riding low on her nose and a smile playing on her lips.

"He'll be happy to see you now, Bella. Please go right in," she said.

I raced past her and when I was just out of her sight but not yet in Dean Johnson's office, I stopped. I smoothed my shirt out and tried to take a few calming breaths.

If Edward wasn't what he was talking to me about, no need to give away that I had been sleeping with what I thought was a student, but in reality was little more than a glorified stalker who was gorgeously beautiful and incredibly smart.

I lightly knocked on the closed door and waited for a reply.

My hummingbird heart beat off practically several hundred beats before I heard his soft "come in" from behind the wood.

I swung the door open with perhaps more enthusiasm than I should have expressed and walked into the office as calmly as I could manage.

"Please sit, Bella," Dean Johnson said smoothly.

He was a much older man as many of the other Deans were, balding and somewhat overweight. He reminded me more of a jolly version of my father than a serious academic type.

The look on his face was serious, his eyes draw tight and squarely on me.

I gulped loudly and slid into a chair in front of his massive mahogany desk.

If I wasn't scared before, I was certainly scared now.

"Bella, first thing's first. I'm not here to accuse you of anything. Is that clear?" he said after a moment.

I gulped again and weakly said, "Okay."

"We've received a tip of sorts that perhaps something out of the ordinary was going on in your class and we of course had to investigate. Are you with me so far?" he said and leaned forward, letting his fingertips touch on top of the dark wood of his desk.

"Yes."

My fingers tightened on the paper, the last shred of my sanity.

"And it seems the accusations are unfounded."

Wait.

"What?" I asked, my eyebrows pulling together in confusion.

"The accusation was that you were having an inappropriate relationship with one of your students. We looked into this student's status and have learned that he is not your student at all," Dean Johnson said and leaned back I his high-backed leather chair.

"Edward."

"Yes, one Edward Cullen."

"But he … Edward … I … I'm sorry," I finally squeaked out.

"Bella, as much as I'm sure your conscience is telling you to confess whatever is weighing you down, I am choosing to sweep this away. Our records indicate that he was indeed at one time your student, but that he dropped your class and instead picked up 201 with a different professor on the first day of the semester. I can't imagine what is running through your head at the moment, but let me just say that I want to warn you that next time something like this is brought to our attention, I will not be so lenient. I have taken a liking to you and am very hopeful that you will continue on your tenure track here," Dean Johnson replied.

"Um, thank you?" I said politely.

"You're welcome. But remember. Next time."

I smiled weakly at him.

Each passing second brought more confidence and the realization that everything was going to be okay.

My smile got wider.

"There won't be a next time," I grinned.

"Good. Now get out of my office and go teach these insolent brats some literature," Dean Johnson chuckled.

"Thank you so much, Dean. I won't forget your warning. I promise," I said quickly and retreated from his office before he could change his mind.

His secretary smiled at me on my way out and I couldn't stop the laughter when she raised her thumb at me.

"He likes you. You're lucky," she laughed breathily.

I grinned at her before bolting out of the doors of the office.

After I collected a few things from my office, I knew what I had to do.

It was time to go get my man.

My boyfriend.

My future.

My everything.

The sun seemed to shine all that brighter as I ran through the streets toward my house.

Everything would be okay.

I knew it.

There was no stopping us now.

* * *

I know some of you will be confused by Edward's sadness. Fret not. I will resolve this. I promise.

**Side note: I'm well aware something like this wouldn't get swept under the rug so easily at a normal university. But let's just pretend for fiction's sake that it would in this story. **


	15. Chapter 15: Proclamations

**A/N: Longer note at the bottom. **

**For my own personal muse because … well, duh. Because. I don't even have words. **

**Campus Liaisons**

**Chapter 15: Proclamations**

I darted between slow walking students and soccer moms walking their dogs as I ran through the streets toward my house. It was vaguely reminiscent of that very first morning I work up, the morning my entire existence had changed.

All thanks to tequila.

I would never look at that stuff the same again.

A few cars honked at me when I ran out into oncoming traffic, but I couldn't be bothered to stop for the walk sign.

I had a man to get.

I had my man to get.

Edward.

His name rang through my head, the doubt and self-loathing I'd felt for days now no longer present. There was nothing wrong with what we were doing.

Hell, the Dean himself had practically given me his blessing. Well, maybe not so much his blessing. More like his "I'm going to look the other way."

Good enough for me.

With each frenzied step, my feet brought me closer to my house, even though I really didn't have a definite plan from there.

Maybe he was in class. Maybe he would be busy. Maybe I would have to wait.

Ugh.

Waiting.

That would be horrible. Having to patiently wait for however long it took before I could see him again. Before I could have him in my arms and have his wonderful lips caressing mine again. Before I could feel his strong but amazing fingers running over my skin and raising goosebumps in their path.

My life. My love. My Edward.

Yes, I wanted to know why he dropped my class then didn't tell me. Why he continued to come and do pointless assignments when he didn't have to.

I wanted to know everything about him. From his favorite food to the length of his shoelaces to the first thing he thought of in the morning when he woke.

But none of that stuff mattered. Not the big stuff. Not the little stuff.

All that mattered was him.

And being with him.

Loving him.

My legs ached and my lungs burned as I rounded the last corner to my street and crossed the last half block to my front porch.

The clouds opened up and the sun shone just a little bit brighter for me.

Why?

Because sitting on my front porch, like he had been dropped from heaven itself was my world.

My Edward.

He sat on the step, his head dropped in his hand that was resting on his knee. I couldn't see his face, but I could only imagine what he looked like.

Probably something similar to when he left me last night.

Pained. Broken. On the verge of something great and something horrible.

No.

I didn't want that.

Not now.

I didn't even give him time to react when I bounded right up him and threw my arms around his neck, knocking him back onto my porch. His head fell onto the hard wooden slats and for a brief second I worried that I'd done real damage to his beautiful head.

Well, I guess I'll have to make him feel better then.

In barely a hair's breath I covered his lips with mine and was desperately trying to cling every part of my body to his. I wiggled into his lap, legs thrown on either side of his hips. I wound my hands into his untidy hair and pulled and tugged and willed for it not to give under my strength.

I needed him. I wanted him. I desired him.

God.

I wanted to crawl inside of him and become one with him.

"Bella," Edward gasped and turned his head to the side, giving me more room to roam his lengthy neck.

My lips attacked every square open inch of skin I could find. From the base of his neck to the spot under his ears, I licked and lapped. Nipped and nibbled. He tasted like heaven. Heaven and man and cookies and innocence and sin. Sweet and spicy. Tangy and tart.

My perfection.

When I took his earlobe into my mouth and sucked hard, Edward's hands came to my shoulders and pushed on me.

Wait. He wanted me to stop?

Stop.

I was grinding myself into his very obvious hardness and he was saying … no?

Okay. This was at best confusing.

I let go of his earlobe with a soft pop and pulled my head back to look him in the eye.

"Bella, as much as I would love to continue this right where we are, I'm pretty sure the public indecency laws require at least a measure of discretion. Let's get inside and I … uh .. I'm pretty sure you have some questions," he half smiled at me.

I pulled my hands from his hair and sighed before detangling my legs from his. I cautiously stood up on now shaky legs and watched Edward draw himself up, obviously wincing from the contact with my porch.

"Oops," I said meekly.

"Oh, no worries. My noggin is rather hard and has survived many an attack from a rabid porch," he chuckled and rubbed the back of his head softly.

Just the vision of him standing there in front of me, his fingers running through the hair at the base of his neck made me want him all that much more.

We needed to get inside.

I moved around him to open the door, my hands shaking as I fumbled with the keys in the lock. On the third try, Edward's gentle hands wrapped around mine and guided the key in.

"Thanks," I mumbled, embarrassed that I couldn't even contain myself long enough to unlock the damn door to my own house.

"Don't mention it," he chuckled again.

We stepped inside and let the door swing shut behind us. The sudden silence of my house seemed to cast a new, awkward shadow over us and we stood there, unsure of how to proceed.

He ran his hand through is hair once again, and my eyes zeroed in on his jaw as I watched it tense.

I felt my arousal begin to gather in my pants and I remembered again why I had attacked him just moments earlier.

That's right. He was a sexy beast who could fuck me six ways to Sunday and I wouldn't complain one bit. Hell, I'd let him rip off my pants that Alice had insisted I buy despite them being obscenely expensive for a new teacher's salary.

Oooh, pants!

That's a good place to start.

I lunged for his pants and my fingers tore at the button frantically before Edward stopped me, his fingers clamping down on mine.

"Bella," he groaned.

I instantly stopped and looked up at him, getting lost in the depth of green I saw there. They always pulled me in, made me lose whatever semblance of coherent thought I was managing at the moment.

So much for a plan.

"Please, Bella. Don't make this any harder than it already is for me. We really need to … talk," Edward said and moved his hands to my hips once he was satisfied I wouldn't be ripping off his pants any time soon.

He guided me over to the couch and sat me down. He perched on the edge of the coffee table, his legs on either side of mine and his hands clutching at mine.

"So I'm guessing by your enthusiastic welcome that everything turned out okay with the dean?" he asked and smiled gently.

I dimly noticed his smile didn't reach his eyes again.

I nodded, but I didn't want to talk about that yet. I had something I needed to know first.

"Why?" I asked.

Edward bit his lip and turned his head away, glancing down at the floor.

He sighed and every part of me wanted to hold him, comfort him, reach out to him.

"What part of 'why' do you want to know?" he said quietly.

"Why everything? Why did you drop? Why did you stay? Why did you keep coming when you didn't have to? Why didn't you tell me? Why do I feel so attracted to you? Why did I feel that … something when our hands touched in my office? Why did Tanya say you were playing grabass with a coed at a party? Why did you tease me in class all that time? Why did you stare at me and burn holes into my back? Just … why?" I said in a rush.

It was everything I had been thinking. Everything I had been wondering.

I wanted to know it all. From the beginning.

"How much?"

"Everything."

He sighed again and tightened his grasp on my hands, as if I would wiggle away if he loosened then.

Well, I wasn't. I wasn't going anywhere now.

"I guess I should start from the beginning. That's as good as a place as any," he said as he turned to face me again.

There was a new look in his eyes, one of determination. Of strength. Of knowing. Of sheer knowledge of something bigger.

"That night at the bar, that first night, I saw you the instant you walked in. It was as if you walked in right out of my dreams. You were perfect. Your face. Your hair. Dammit. I was hard just looking at you. I couldn't keep my damn eyes off of you long enough to lose you. I watched you take that tequila shot, but more importantly, I saw the look in the eyes of all the guys around you too. I saw how they were looking at you. Like a piece of meat. It made me want to do something. Take you away. Protect you from them. After the second shot, I moved closer. And then the third. God, I couldn't keep myself from you. I knew you were drunk at this point. I didn't want to take advantage of you, not in the least. I just wanted you to be safe.

"Your eyes met mine and I was lost. Lost to their depths. I felt everything shift then. It wasn't just a desire to keep you safe anymore. It was a need. A desire. A yearning. To make sure no bad ever came to you ever again. So I asked if I could take you home. By the time we got back to your place, you were all over me. You were making it so hard to resist. Your skin was so hot and sweet and perfect, I just … lost it. I gave into temptation. I've never forgiven myself for taking advantage of you like that," he groaned and released my hands. His head dropped and he covered his face with his palms.

A muffled sob came from him and my heart broke for his pain.

I brought my hand to his shoulder to comfort him. I rubbed his skin through his shirt, offering whatever I could do him while he had his moment.

"You didn't take advantage of me. I wanted it. I may have been piss ass drunk, but I wouldn't have been all over you if I didn't want you. Don't forget that," I said quietly.

Edward lifted his head and I saw remnants of a few tears lingering on the edges of his eyes. I brought my thumb up and wiped them away, not wanting to see tears mar his beautiful face. He leaned into my touch and I brushed my fingers down his jaw. My thumb lingered on his bottom lip and he kissed it softly, a gentle smile spreading across his mouth.

"My life changed that night. I'd traveled the world looking for something to inspire me, stir new life in me. I've seen the Seven Wonders and every painting in the Lourve, but nothing could compare the magnificence of your face when you came. God, it took my breath away. It was in that instant that I knew … that's it. I found her. I found what I've been looking for. That's it for me. No more looking."

My breath caught in my throat and my stomach turned in knots.

He felt … all of that? The first night?

Oh god.

"And I was beyond petrified that you wouldn't feel the same way. Hell, I didn't expect you to feel the same way. I expected you be pissed that I'd had sex with you when you were too drunk to really consent," he continued.

I half smiled at him and said, "I was more pissed you didn't stay."

He smiled meekly and ran his hand through his hair, the ends sticking up in every which direction.

"Yeah, that was probably not the best plan. I woke up next to you, all perfect and warm and naked and I just ran. Because everything I felt in the heat of the darkness of night was still there. Fear made me run, but I couldn't bring myself to leave without leaving my number," he grinned and shook his head. "That damn Post-It."

"That damn Post-It," I echoed and grinned right back at him.

"So when you walked into class that morning, I knew it was confirmation of something. That we were supposed to meet. Supposed to be together. Fate is stupid and hokey and I've never held any stock in it, but seeing you fly into that room and just command attention made the concept real to me. I wanted you then and there. I had to have you again. But I didn't want to you get in any trouble. Remember, nothing bad to come to you? So as soon as I left class I went over to the registrar and dropped the class. But the thought of not seeing you anymore was excruciating, so I kept coming," he said and smiled.

The way he explained things made sense. They rolled around in my empty head and somehow made sense.

"You couldn't stay away," I said.

"No, not at all. It was like an addiction. I felt this … pull towards you. Like whenever you were near my body would go into hyper overdrive and I couldn't resist you. I couldn't stay away. I felt like such a freaky stalker almost. Every class I said it would be my last one, but I kept coming back. Every promise I made to stay away I broke."

"Me too. All of it. You don't know how much it took to resist you when you were in my office that one day, your scent so damn close and this little buzzing pulling me towards you," I agreed with him.

"Yeah, I felt that too that day," he laughed.

"So Tanya?" I asked, almost a little afraid of what the answer would be.

Edward pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. His mouth twisted into an unsatisfied frown and he groaned before answering.

"Tanya is an annoying twit who can't take no for an answer. I've rebuffed her enough to make anybody with a third grade education understand that I wasn't interested in them. She probably thought she would upset you by saying something untrue about me. And that just reinforces exactly everything I think about her," Edward snipped and pulled his eyebrows together.

I couldn't stifle the amused laughter and we both erupted in a fit of nervous giggles. I clutched at my stomach before I could finally control myself.

Edward was wiping away tears from laughing so hard and the sight was yet another reason to find him simply gorgeous. I tucked away the image in the back of my head for future use.

"So no drunken coed grinding?" I finally managed to get out.

"No drunken coeds. Hell, I usually don't even go out to bars which is why I was so shocked to see you out the two times I've gone out. And at the same place no less. Just another tick for the fate checklist, I guess."

He shifted on the table and I put a hand on his knee.

The rest of my questions could wait for another time. I had one last one though.

"So why didn't you tell me?"

He sighed and closed his eyes.

He leaned back and his head fell back.

His neck lay bare in front of me, the remnants of his stubble plainly visible. I longed to run my fingers along the column of his neck, just laying kisses and feeling his pulse hot and quick under my touch.

"To be honest, I don't really know. I could come up with some big elaborate lie or I could just tell you the truth. I just panicked. I thought you'd freak out and think I was stalking you. I thought you'd hate me and never want to see me again after seeing you at the bar again. I was in too deep and I just couldn't … tell you. Every moment that I wanted to seemed to be lost before I could get the words out and I just couldn't bring myself to burst the bubble we'd created. It's a piss poor reason to do something like that, but I just couldn't get the words out."

Edward's eyes found mine again and I was amazed by the depth again. Every word he said rang true. Everything he said was so perfect that it didn't seem to matter to me anymore that he didn't tell me.

Really, I should have been furious. I knew that. He let me worry needlessly for weeks on end that I was a horrible person for lusting after my own student, regardless how old he was. I stayed up at night fretting and fussing over feelings I couldn't explain and sensations his proximity stirred within me.

I should have thrown him out right then.

But I couldn't.

Because it didn't matter.

He did it just to be close to me. He wanted to close to me. Just like I wanted to be close to him.

And really … could I fault him for that?

No.

Not when I was willing to throw everything away anyways just to be with him, even thought I now knew no sacrifice would have been necessary. I had made my decision and I would have followed through with it without a second thought if I had known I would feel these things for him.

That I would love him as much as I did already.

Just in these few short days.

These last few days had been some of the hardest and best of my life.

I found my life when I found him.

That night he brought me home had crystallized everything for me. Seeing him in the throws of passion had put everything right over the top.

So I could forgive him. For everything. And yet for nothing at the same time.

Because that's what you do to your soulmate. You forgive them even when you know you shouldn't. You forgive them when there's nothing to be forgiven and when there's everything to be forgiven. Because you know you can't be without them and you're willing to go to any lengths to stay with them.

"There's nothing to forgive."

The words slipped from my mouth so easily, so breathlessly I wasn't even sure I'd said them until his face lit up.

Edward's face absolutely lit up.

Everything was alright again.

Everything would be alright.

We could get through anything together.

His arms were around me in a heartbeat and his lips were on mine. He pulled me into his chest and I clutched at any part of him I could reach.

This was where I belonged.

I frantically covered his face with kisses, some featherlite and some rougher. Edward's hand grasped at my waist as I ground myself into him, desperate to find measure of friction to relieve the steadily growing ache between my legs.

I knew we still had a lot to talk about, a lot of issues left to resolve.

But I didn't care anymore.

I just wanted him.

He pulled my button up shirt off in one hard tug, buttons scattering on the floor in every which direction. Whatever. Shirts could be replaced. There was only one Edward.

He peppered the swell of my breasts with hot, open-mouthed kisses and his tongue darted out to join in the fun. I shuddered against him and pulled the neck of his shirt over so I could suck on the skin there.

I wanted to mark him as mine.

Because that's what he was.

He was mine now.

And I was his.

He stood up, clutching me in his arms and supporting me with his hands under my ass. I wriggled against him and snuggled into his strong arms. He wouldn't drop me, no matter what.

We stumbled into my bedroom, where it all began really. That very first time. The fateful time.

My mind laughed at the small detail for about a half a second before I realized was on my bed and Edward was pushing my pants and underwear down my legs.

I laid back and let him work at my clothes, just enjoying watching him as he disposed of them over the edge of the bed. He quickly had his own pants off and settled in between my legs.

He ran his hand over my wetness, his fingers gently pressing into me and teasing me. I gasped into the air and my head tilted back at the feeling.

His name fell from my lips like a new religious chant. I'd done it before when we were together, but now it had new meaning to me.

He really was my religion now. He was my everything. My world. The sun was no longer the center of the solar system; he was. Everything rotated around him and without him I knew I would be nothing.

Edward leaned into my chest and took one breast into his mouth while a hand gave the other attention. I clutched at his back, my hands pulling him into me harder. I wanted to feel more, to feel everything.

His tongue tapped at my nipple, expertly teasing it and plumping it. He switched his position and suckled on the other one.

My gasps were coming faster and faster, and I knew I couldn't survive much more of this delicious torture.

"Please," I whimpered.

Edward looked up at me, that same half grin, half smirk on his face.

Always the cocky bastard.

I guess some things don't change.

He moved up my body, kissing his way up my neck. Right at the juncture, he planted a searing kiss, sucking hard in the process.

His own mark on me.

It was official.

We'd laid our claim.

There was no going back, as if that was ever an option.

My head tilted back and I fought to maintain my sanity. I needed him in me soon if I didn't want to burst. If I didn't was to spontaneously combust from the heat now pulsing through my body.

"Please," I whimpered again.

Anything.

Edward kissed the corner of my mouth and I both felt and heard his whisper.

"Bella."

My name on his lips was beautiful. Reverent. Worshipping. Like I was his own goddess. The center of his own world.

We were a universe unto ourselves. Each rotating around each other.

"So beautiful," his whispered reverence sounded out.

"Edward," I half sobbed out.

Right here.

I wanted to say right here.

Locked in his arms. Naked and close to him. Skin on skin.

My life would had irrevocably changed and so had his.

He thrust into me and the feeling brought a new meaning to the word 'perfection.' Before it was amazing, but this … this was something else completely. This was a coupling for the ages.

This was a sharing of souls. A blessing from the universe itself that truly meant that, yes, we were supposed to be together.

Soulmates and fate and destiny and all those silly concepts wrapped up in each other.

His movements brought me back to earth and yet made me soar higher at the same time. The pressure built inside of me in no time and I knew it wouldn't take much to push me over that ledge.

For me to fall off into eternity and in the blackness of the depths below.

"Bella, look at me," Edward moaned.

I opened my heavy lids and found his intense green eyes staring into mine.

The depth.

The love.

The soul.

The feelings.

I saw all of his being. All of his soul.

"Edward," I gasped right back.

"I love you. More than I can explain," he said and kissed me hard on the lips.

He thrust one more time and I exploded into violent eruption of sensation as he came with me.

Edward's head fell back and I took the site of him reveling in his own pleasure, the ultimate beauty there.

He collapsed onto me, his head burrowed into my neck and his breath hot on my neck.

My arms circled around him and I held him to me, both our sweaty bodies still enjoying the aftershocks of our mutual climaxes still rumbling through us.

I gently kissed his ear and whispered what I struggled with for so long, but only recently recognized and affirmed.

"I love you too. And I plan on explaining it every moment I get for a very long time."

* * *

**Thanks everybody for the amazing support you've all shown me during this story. I really appreciate everything. I still can't believe all the amazing feedback I've received. Thank you so much. **

**I'm sorry to see this story end, but alas all good things come to an end. I wanted to get everything out of my head before school completely consumes my thoughts. **

**I hope you enjoyed Campus Liaisons and make sure to put me on your Author Alert list to receive alerts about my future writings if you haven't already done so. **

**Thanks again! **


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